Authors Netpop Research LLC
License CC-BY-3.0
Defining “Noncommercial”
A Study of How the Online Population
Understands “Noncommercial Use”
September 2009
Defining Noncommercial 2
Report published by:
Creative Commons Corporation
171 Second Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94105-3811, USA
+1 415 369 8480
www.creativecommons.org
Research conducted by:
Netpop Research, LLC
322 Cortland Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
www.netpopresearch.com
This Report, inclusive of the Appendices, is published under the Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
The research data collected for this Report are published under CC0
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, which means Creative
Commons has waived all copyright and related rights to the research data
worldwide.
Copies of the Report, Appendices and research data are available at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial, which is also the link to provide for purposes of
attribution. See Appendix 5.1 and Appendix 5.2 for suggested citation information.
Questions or Comments?
If you have a question or comment about this Report, contact Creative Commons at
info@creativecommons.org.
About Creative Commons
Creative Commons Corporation is a San Francisco-based not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001,
that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain.
Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists and educators
the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept
of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons was
built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public
Domain, Google, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, Omidyar
Network, Red Hat, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public.
About Netpop Research, LLC
Netpop Research, LLC is a San Francisco-based strategic market research firm that specializes in online
media, digital entertainment and user-generated content trends. Netpop Research has fielded numerous
studies for major profit and not-for-profit entities, and is the creator of the Netpop tracking study of Internet
usage among broadband consumers in the United States and China.
Defining Noncommercial 3
Contents
About this Report...............................................................................................................6
Executive Summary and Report Presentation.................................................................10
Empirical Findings: U.S. Online Population.................................................................11
Informal Findings: CCFF..............................................................................................12
Study Impact and Next Steps.......................................................................................13
Report Presentation......................................................................................................13
1 Background...................................................................................................................14
1.1 Creative Commons and the CC Licenses..............................................................14
1.2 The CC Noncommercial License Term..................................................................16
2 Study.............................................................................................................................19
2.1 Scope of Research.................................................................................................19
2.2 Description and Methodology.................................................................................20
Research Objectives.................................................................................................21
Qualitative Research.................................................................................................22
Quantitative Research...............................................................................................24
3 Findings........................................................................................................................29
3.1 Qualitative Research..............................................................................................29
Phase 2: Creators.....................................................................................................29
Phase 3: Users..........................................................................................................36
3.2 Quantitative Research: U.S. Online Population.....................................................41
Creators and Users: Profiles.....................................................................................41
What Is Noncommercial Use? Unaided Understandings and Beliefs......................48
Gatekeeping Factors.................................................................................................51
Anchor Point Exercise and Reactions to Specific Use Scenarios............................54
Summary of Anchor Point Exercise..........................................................................65
Changes to Unaided Understandings.......................................................................66
3.3 Quantitative Research: Creative Commons Friends and Family...........................68
Comparison to U.S. Online Population.....................................................................69
Perception of Creative Commons and Reaction to the NC Term.............................71
3.4 Summary of Principal Findings...............................................................................72
Empirical Study.........................................................................................................72
Defining Noncommercial 4
CCFF Survey.............................................................................................................75
4 Next...............................................................................................................................77
4.1 Import for Creative Commons Noncommercial Licenses.......................................77
4.2 Recommendations on Using CC Noncommercial Licenses..................................78
4.3 Further Research....................................................................................................80
4.4 How to Participate in the Discussion......................................................................82
5 Appendix.......................................................................................................................83
5.1 Using and Citing the Report and Appendix............................................................83
5.2 Using and Citing the Data......................................................................................83
5.3 Creative Commons BY-NC License and Commons Deed.....................................84
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported Commons Deed......90
5.4 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Creators................................91
5.5 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Users..................................112
5.6 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Data Graphs ...................................................136
Figures
Figure 1: Phase 2 – Content Creators [Appendix 5.6, Slide 2].......................................26
Figure 2: Phase 3 – Content Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 3]............................................26
Figure 3: Photos are the most common type of online content created, accessed,
shared or used [Appendix 5.6, Slide 4]............................................................................43
Figure 4: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 6]................43
Figure 5: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 17]..............45
Figure 6: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 29]..............47
Figure 7: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide
36]....................................................................................................................................49
Figure 8: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide
39]....................................................................................................................................50
Figure 9: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide
43]....................................................................................................................................51
Figure 10: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users (Gatekeeping Exercise)
[Appendix 5.6, Slide 44]...................................................................................................53
Figure 11: Initial Anchor Point Ratings by Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 45]
.........................................................................................................................................55
Figure 12: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to
Uses by Individual [Appendix 5.6, Slide 46]....................................................................57
Defining Noncommercial 5
Figure 13: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to
Uses Involving Money [Appendix 5.6, Slide 51]..............................................................59
Figure 14: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to
Uses Involving Advertisements [Appendix 5.6, Slide 54]................................................60
Figure 15: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to
Uses by Organization [Appendix 5.6, Slide 59]...............................................................62
Figure 16: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to
Uses with Charitable Purposes [Appendix 5.6, Slide 61]................................................64
Figure 17: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users (Anchor Point Exercise)
[Appendix 5.6, Slide 62]...................................................................................................65
Figure 18: Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide
71]....................................................................................................................................68
Tables
Table 1: Creative Commons License Elements..............................................................15
Table 2: Content Creators and Content Users Dataset...................................................27
Table 3: Qualitative Research Consideration Factors.....................................................31
Table 4: Gatekeeping Factors.........................................................................................52
Defining Noncommercial 6
About this Report
Confidentiality
The identities of interviewees and focus group participants are confidential. All
findings are reported either anonymously or in aggregated fashion. Quotation
marks used in connection with the reporting of research findings indicate
verbatim quotes, unless it is clear from the context that the quotation marks are
used to set off a word or phrase.
Data and Word Usage Conventions
For ease of reading, this Report and the data graphs reproduced here and in the
Appendix sometimes shorten the questions asked of survey respondents. Very
similar questions from different phases of research are also sometimes combined
and condensed when data from those phases are reported together. The study
questionnaires are available at the end of this Report.
Below are some terms frequently used in connection with representation of the
data, and explanations of what those terms are intended to convey:
“definitely” when used in connection with the gatekeeping factor exercise, refers
to a specific answer choice in the questionnaires; when used in connection with
the anchor point exercise, refers to a score of 1 or 100 on a 100 point scale;
“generally” denotes a common pattern seen in data across multiple variables;
“significant” refers to statistical significance testing (differences are noted at a
95% confidence level unless otherwise indicated);
“majority” means over 50%, while “vast majority” means over 70%;
“most” used in connection with qualitative findings indicates when an opinion is
shared by substantially more than half of respondents;
“many” used in connection with qualitative findings indicates when an opinion is
shared by approximately half or more respondents; and
Defining Noncommercial 7
“some” used in connection with qualitative findings indicates when an opinion is
shared by less than half, but more than a few respondents.
With regard to representation of numbers, specifically, percentages are rounded
to the nearest whole number, while means are reported with a single decimal
place. When indications such as “1 in 10” are provided, they are based on actual
percentages, and rounded to the nearest integer under 10.
Defining Noncommercial 8
Acknowledgements
This study was made possible by the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation. At the Mellon Foundation, Creative Commons owes particular
thanks to Donald J. Waters, Program Officer for Scholarly Communications.
Thanks as well to Helen Cullyer, Associate Program Officer, and Paula Muir,
Program Associate.
Creative Commons is honored to have been able to work with a stellar group of
legal, public policy, and information technology experts, who advised on research
methodology and data analysis. For their generosity and invaluable guidance,
CC is grateful to these distinguished academicians:
Christine L. Borgman, Ph.D., Professor and Presidential Chair in Information
Studies, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of
California, Los Angeles;
William H. Dutton, Ph.D., Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, Professor of
Internet Studies, University of Oxford, Fellow of Balliol College;
Deborah R. Hensler, Ph.D., Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution
and Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Stanford Law School; and
Daniel E. Ho, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Law and Robert E. Paradise Faculty
Fellow for Excellence in Teaching and Research, Stanford Law School.
Other experts helped by reviewing drafts of this Report. For their thoughtful
comments, Creative Commons is grateful to Mia Garlick, its former General
Counsel who was a leader within CC for many years on defining
“noncommercial,” as well as Molly Kleinman, Special Assistant to the Dean of
Libraries at the University of Michigan Library. CC is indebted also to Wilson
Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for their valuable research assistance, and
appreciative of the help given by the many people who engaged in discussion,
introduced useful contacts, or answered a survey.
Creative Commons owes a particular debt of gratitude to Netpop Research, LLC.
Josh Crandall, President and Co-founder, and Cate Riegner, Vice President,
Research Director and Co-founder, were instrumental in shaping this project and
seeing the research through its iterations to completion. They were aided by
Jean Durall, Ph.D., Director, Research Services, and Netpop staff members
Rudy Hernandez, Grace Han Yao and Ev Penev. Netpop extends thanks as well
to Greenfield Online, Inc. and Decipher, Inc.
Defining Noncommercial 9
Creative Commons is fortunate to have a dedicated board and staff, as well as a
remarkable and extensive network of international affiliates and volunteers, many
of whom participated as members of the NC Study Working Group and helped
steer this project: Hal Abelson, Renata Avila, Ahrash Bissell, Carolina Botero,
Mike Carroll, Andrés Felipe Umaña Chaux, Giorgos Cheliotis, Jessica Coates,
Wen-Yin Chou, Tyng-Ruey Chuang, Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, Brian
Fitzgerald, Syb Groeneveld, Gisle Hannemyr, Chi-Chang Huang, Joichi Ito, Paul
Keller, Ronaldo Lemos, Lawrence Lessig, Catharina Maracke, Yuko Noguchi,
Eric Steuer, Alek Tarkowski, Prodromos Tsiavios, Chunyan Wang, John
Wilbanks, Jongsoo Yoon, and Zafka Zhang.
Finally, CC thanks for their contributions Virginia Rutledge, Creative Commons
Special Counsel, who served as project director; Mike Linksvayer, Creative
Commons Vice President, who served as Principal Investigator; and Diane
Peters, Creative Commons General Counsel. Thanks also to Creative Commons
staff members Lila Bailey, Fred Benenson, Kevin Birtchnell, Diane Cabell,
Nathan Kinkade, Thinh Nguyen, Jane Park, Cameron Parkins, Melissa Reeder,
Alex Roberts, Ani Sittig, Michelle Thorne and Jennifer Yip for their assistance.
Defining Noncommercial 10
Executive Summary and Report Presentation
In 2008-09, Creative Commons commissioned a study from a professional
market research firm to explore understandings of the terms “commercial use”
and “noncommercial use” among Internet users when used in the context of
content found online. The study was comprised of two components – an
empirical study of understandings of Internet users in the United States, and an
informal study for comparison purposes of a broader, worldwide group of Internet
users consisting of those generally more familiar with CC but not taking part in
the empirical survey (dubbed “Creative Commons Friends and Family” or
“CCFF”).1 The primary objectives of the study were two-fold:
1) to survey variations in the general online population’s
understanding of the terms “commercial use” and “noncommercial use,”
when used in the context of the wide variety of copyrighted works and
content made available on the Internet; and
2) to provide information and analysis that would be useful to Creative
Commons and to others in understanding the points of connection and
potential disconnection between creators and users of works licensed
under Creative Commons noncommercial, or “NC,” licenses or other
public copyright licenses prohibiting commercial use.
The study involved three phases:
Phase 1 comprised background research, identifying research objectives,
and preparation for the subsequent phases;
Phase 2 consisted of qualitative and quantitative research to understand
meanings given those terms by creators of copyrighted materials found on
the Internet; and
Phase 3 involved qualitative and quantitative research designed primarily
to understand meanings given those same terms by users of copyrighted
content found on the Internet.
1
Due to resource constraints, the scope of the empirical research was limited to the U.S. online
population, as discussed in more detail in Section 2.1, below.
Defining Noncommercial 11
Empirical Findings: U.S. Online Population
The empirical findings suggest that creators and users approach the question of
noncommercial use similarly and that overall, online U.S. creators and users are
more alike than different in their understanding of noncommercial use. Both
creators and users generally consider uses that earn users money or involve
online advertising to be commercial, while uses by organizations, by individuals,
or for charitable purposes are less commercial but not decidedly noncommercial.
Similarly, uses by for-profit companies are typically considered more commercial.
Perceptions of the many use cases studied suggest that with the exception of
uses that earn users money or involve advertising – at least until specific case
scenarios are presented that disrupt those generalized views of commerciality –
there is more uncertainty than clarity around whether specific uses of online
content are commercial or noncommercial.
Uses that are more difficult to classify as either commercial or noncommercial
also show greater (and often statistically significant) differences between creators
and users. As a general rule, creators consider the uses studied to be more
noncommercial (less commercial) than users. For example, uses by a not-for-
profit organization are generally thought less commercial than uses by a for-profit
organization, and even less so by creators than users. The one exception to this
pattern is in relation to uses by individuals that are personal or private in nature.
Here, it is users (not creators) who believe such uses are less commercial.
The most notable differences among subgroups within each sample of creators
and users are between creators who make money from their works, and those
who do not, and between users who make money from their uses of others’
works, and those who do not. In both cases, those who make money generally
rate the uses studied less commercial than those who do not make money. The
one exception is, again, with respect to personal or private uses by individuals:
users who make money consider these uses more commercial than those who
do not make money.
When presented with the language of the Creative Commons noncommercial
license term (abbreviated at times in this Report as the “NC term”), the vast
majority believe it is “essentially the same as” or “compatible with” their definition
of noncommercial use. The Creative Commons NC prohibition on use of a work
“in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial
advantage or private monetary compensation” presumably resonates with a large
majority of creators and users because most believe that no money can be made
if a use is to be considered noncommercial. Given that the NC term does not
refer to any particular uses, such as use in connection with online advertising that
a large majority of respondents considers commercial in several instances before
more specific use cases are presented, creators and users appear to have read
Defining Noncommercial 12
this meaning into the NC term. Furthermore, the appeal of the NC term may
reflect a desire among creators and users to simplify (possibly over-simplify) a
complex issue, anchoring the definition around a restriction that is most “easy to
think,” that is, one in which “no money is made.”
Finally, the empirical findings suggest that the vast majority of both U.S. creators
and users do not know the basics of copyright law, adding to other studies that
show public interest in and need for more copyright law and, specifically, fair use
education.2
Informal Findings: CCFF
Although not empirical due to the open access nature of the polls, the CCFF
survey results provide valuable information about CCFF’s familiarity with
copyright licensing and use of public copyright licenses. The survey reveals that
both the U.S. online population and CCFF define “commercial use” primarily as a
use that makes money. However, CCFF identify some use scenarios where at
least some money may be made without those uses being decidedly
“commercial.”
In particular, CCFF consider uses in connection with online advertising and uses
involving cost recovery less commercial than the U.S. online population, and are
much less likely to think that use in connection with online advertising from which
the user makes money is “definitely” commercial. Fewer CCFF think it is
“definitely” commercial if a work is used on a website that is supported by
advertising than the U.S online population. Yet CCFF are much more likely to
consider use in connection with splog advertising “definitely” commercial. As well,
a lower percentage of CCFF creators and users say that making money by
unspecified means from use of a work to cover cost distribution is “definitely”
commercial.
Other interesting differences exist between CCFF and the U.S. online population.
Like the U.S. online population, CCFF rate personal and private use the least
commercial of all scenarios studied, and CCFF ratings are even lower than U.S.
ratings for both creators and users. Further, unlike the U.S. online population,
CCFF creators and users are equally certain that personal or private use is
“definitely” noncommercial.
Additional data sought from CCFF specific to Creative Commons and its NC
licenses show that the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license is the most popular
of all CC licenses among both CCFF creators and CCFF users. Survey results
2
See, e.g., R. Hobbs, P. Jaszi, and P. Aufderheide, The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy,
September 2007, http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/Final_CSM_copyright_report.pdf.
Defining Noncommercial 13
show that the BY-NC-SA license is chosen by CCFF creators because it allows
them to control their right to make money and retain a commercial advantage.
Both CCFF creators and users say they trust that Creative Commons licenses
are legally enforceable. Finally, CCFF creators and users are divided on whether
they would support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the Creative
Commons NC term.
Study Impact and Next Steps
The results of the survey provide a starting point for future research. In the
specific context of the Creative Commons licenses, the findings suggest some
reasons for the ongoing success of Creative Commons NC licenses, rules of
thumb for licensors releasing works under NC licenses and licensees using
works released under NC licenses, and serve as a reminder to would-be users of
the NC licenses to consider carefully the potential societal costs of a decision to
restrict commercial use. They also highlight the need for caution when
considering whether to modify the CC NC licenses in the course of a license
versioning process or otherwise, so that expectations of those using NC licenses
are preserved, not broken.
Report Presentation
In Section 1 of this Report, Creative Commons provides the background for this
study, including an overview of Creative Commons and its licenses. Section 2
and Section 3 contain information, data analysis and results compiled from
Netpop Research, LLC, a professional market firm that conducted the study
survey. Section 2 describes the study’s scope of research and methodology.
Section 3 reports the findings of the research – the qualitative research findings3
are reported in Section 3.1, the empirical findings for the U.S. general online
population are reported in Section 3.2, and the informal worldwide CCFF
findings are reported in Section 3.3. Finally, Section 4 outlines a preliminary
analysis of what the study results mean for Creative Commons’ noncommercial
licenses, recommendations on use of these licenses informed in part by the
study results, and suggestions for further contributions to discussion of
“noncommercial use” by academic researchers and community members alike.
Section 5 is an Appendix that includes attribution and citation information for the
Report and its various components, the creator and user study questionnaires,
and a slide deck containing the data graphs created for this study that are
reproduced or referenced in this Report.
3
The qualitative research findings were not designed to be limited in scope and applicable to either the
U.S. online population of creators and users, or the broader worldwide CCFF sample, but to instead
inform the development of the questionnaires for both.
Defining Noncommercial 14
1 Background
1.1 Creative Commons and the CC Licenses
Creative Commons (“CC”) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation founded in
2001 to address both an opportunity and a challenge. Thanks to the Internet, it is
possible to more easily, quickly and cheaply distribute content than ever before.
Increasingly, the Internet also provides both source material and a platform for
the creation of new works. Yet the very technology upon which the Internet is
built presents a challenge because a copy of any content or work must be made
in order to use it, even if “use” only means accessing the work online.
Copyright legal systems around the world generally provide that copyright is
acquired the moment a work is fixed in a tangible means of expression, and that
owners are not required to place any notice claiming copyright on their works.4 In
the absence of any other information, those who wish to use content found online
must assume that it is “all rights reserved,” and that for any use beyond fair use
(or other exceptions and limitations to copyright applicable outside of the United
States) permission must be sought. The costs of obtaining – and granting –
permissions, however, can be very high.
Creative Commons’ core mission is to facilitate the legal use and reuse of
content, by offering creators and other copyright holders free and easy-to-use
legal and technical tools that help them publish and distribute their works under
flexible copyright terms. By promoting a “some rights reserved” approach to
copyright and reducing the transactional costs associated with sharing, CC
provides the legal and technical infrastructure necessary to realize the full
potential of creativity and innovation in a digital age.5
Creative Commons provides a standardized set of copyright licenses containing
terms and conditions that creators and other owners of copyrighted materials
(referred to interchangeably at times in this Report as “creators” or “licensors”)
can associate with works they want to share with the public, without requiring
users of that content to ask them for specific permission in advance.6 As with
4
This is the general rule for countries that are party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works and have enacted national legislation implementing its provisions.
5
A brief video explaining Creative Commons is available at http://creativecommons.org/videos/a-shared-
culture/.
6
Creators can license only what they own or have the authority to license. All CC licenses expressly
pertain only to copyright, and do not cover other rights such as those of publicity or privacy, trademarks or
patents. Creative Commons is not a party to any of the licenses it provides. Also, the organization is not a
law firm and does not give legal advice. Users of Creative Commons licenses are encouraged to consult
Defining Noncommercial 15
every “public license,” the creator who chooses to release a work under a CC
copyright license is choosing to allow any user (or licensee), without
discrimination, to take advantage of the offer to use the work.7 The four basic CC
license terms are described in the following table, underneath the visual icons
that represent each term.
BY SA NC ND
You let others copy, You allow others to You let others copy, You let others copy,
distribute, display, and distribute derivative distribute, display, and distribute, display, and
perform your works only under a perform your work – perform only verbatim
copyrighted work – and license identical to the and derivative works copies of your work, not
derivative works based license that governs based upon it – but for derivative works based
upon it – but only if your work. noncommercial upon it.
they give credit the way purposes only.
you request.
Table 1: Creative Commons License Elements.
All Creative Commons licenses include the “BY” or attribution requirement,
ensuring that the creator of the work is credited for any use unless the creator
indicates otherwise through notice to licensees. BY and the three other terms,
Share Alike (“SA”), Noncommercial (“NC”) and No Derivative Works (“ND”), may
be variously combined to compose the six different licenses that make up the
core CC license portfolio.8 For example, a BY-NC-ND license, the CC license
granting the fewest permissions in advance, requires attribution and prohibits
both commercial use and the making of derivative works based on the licensed
original.
Since their introduction in December 2002, CC licenses have been
enthusiastically adopted by creators and enthusiastically employed by users, not
a lawyer if they are unsure in any way about whether a CC license is appropriate for their work.
7
The Creative Commons licensing model was inspired in large part by the work of Richard Stallman, who
is founder of the Free Software Foundation and responsible for the development of the GNU General
Public License for free software. More information on the FSF is available at http://www.fsf.org.
The validity of public licenses was recently noted by a U.S. court in Jacobsen v. Katzer, reported at 535
F.3d 1373 (Fed.Cir. (Cal.) Aug 13, 2008), on remand, Jacobsen v. Katzer, 609 F.Supp.2d 925 (N.D.Cal.
Jan 5, 2009).
8
Information on all the Creative Commons licenses may be found at
http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/. From its founding, the organization has been working to
provide licenses that work for as many creators and users as possible while avoiding the proliferation of
licenses that in turn could undermine standardization and interoperability.
Defining Noncommercial 16
only in the United States but also around the world. To date, the licenses have
been “ported” – that is, linguistically translated and legally adapted – to 52
international legal jurisdictions.9 Currently, CC estimates that its licenses are
attached to over 250 million web pages and other creative works. Those works
reflect the full spectrum of cultural production, not only in established forms such
as literary and scientific texts, music, images, photographs, film and video, but in
web-native media such as blogs, podcasts and wikis.10 This wealth of pre-cleared
material is discoverable through many online content providers and services,
including Google and Yahoo!.11
1.2 The CC Noncommercial License Term
Copyright consists of a set of exclusive rights that enables the owner to control a
variety of uses of her copyrighted work. Many copyright owners understand a
core premise of copyright to be the right to exclude all commercial (but not
necessarily noncommercial) uses of their work unless they grant a license
permitting otherwise. This belief finds some basis in the law itself.
In the United States, for example, the Copyright Act does not define a copyright
owner’s rights in terms of commercial or noncommercial use. Instead, copyright
law sometimes attaches legal significance to whether a use is “commercial” or
“noncommercial”12 or whether a user is deemed to be a commercial or
9
Information on Creative Commons jurisdiction project affiliates is available at
http://creativecommons.org/international/. Courts in the Netherlands and Spain have upheld the validity of
Creative Commons licenses. See Curry v. Audax Publishing B.V., Netherlands LJN: AV4204, Rechtbank
Amsterdam, 334492 / KG 06-176 SR, March 9, 2006, available at
http://zoeken.rechtspraak.nl/resultpage.aspx?snelzoeken=true&searchtype=ljn&ljn=AV4204 (Dutch only),
and Sociedad General de Autores y Editores v. Ricardo Andres Utrera Fernandez, Juzgado de Primera
Instancia Numero Seis de Badajoz, 761/2005, available at
http://www.internautas.org/archivos/sentencia_metropoli.pdf (Spanish only). No court has found a CC
license to be invalid.
10
250 million is a conservative estimate of the number of web pages containing CC-licensed works and
other creative works licensed using CC licenses. This estimate is based on Yahoo! Site Explorer counts
of web pages linking to a CC license, and data from the photo-sharing website Flickr, which as of March
2009 alone contained 100 million CC-licensed works. See http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Metrics. This
estimate does not capture offline uses of CC licenses, nor does it measure precisely the number of
objects under CC licenses. The Case Studies project documents Creative Commons license
implementations from around the world. Learn more at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies.
11
The Creative Commons website facilitates search for CC-licensed works via the “Find” link on its
homepage. From the search page, users can find content using CC-enabled search services at Google,
Yahoo!, Flickr and elsewhere. See http://search.creativecommons.org. These services and others have
also built Creative Commons licensing options into their content publishing tools. Additionally, a list of
descriptions of and links to CC-licensed audio, video, image and text content directories is available at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Content_Curators.
12
Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (as amended) provides, for example, that the first factor
for courts to consider in a fair use defense is “the purpose and character of the use, including whether
such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.” 17 U.S.C. § 107.
Defining Noncommercial 17
noncommercial entity,13 However, rarely are the terms defined, and the law offers
no specific guidance on how to differentiate between commercial and
noncommercial uses or users of copyrighted works. Even if copyright law were
specific about the commercial/noncommercial use divide, that fact would be of
limited significance in the Creative Commons context because there is no
necessary connection, at least in the United States, between the definition of the
rights given to authors by copyright law and the rights that users enjoy under a
license given by the copyright owner.14
The Creative Commons licenses were drafted with the understanding that one
size does not fit all in the field of copyright and that some creators and other
owners of copyright may want to reserve the right to control commercial uses of
their work while broadly enabling noncommercial sharing. Currently, the
noncommercial option only permits use of the work in any manner that is not
“primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or private
monetary compensation.”15 Specifically excluded from the prohibition against
noncommercial use in the NC licenses is the exchange of a CC-licensed work for
any other copyrighted work, whether by means of peer-to-peer digital file-sharing
or otherwise, provided no monetary compensation is involved.16
The noncommercial option has proven popular with those who choose Creative
Commons licenses for their works. Approximately two-thirds of all Creative
Commons licenses associated with works available on the Internet include the
NC term.17 This study was prompted in part by the desire to better understand
expectations of users of Creative Commons licenses across a wide variety of
content types, particularly given the dynamic evolution of Internet business
models that enable or encourage free sharing of copyrighted works while also
relying on indirect means for their financing, such as advertising.
13
For example, Section 111 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (as amended) exempts secondary
transmissions by a “nonprofit organization, without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial
advantage,” and Section 114 provides a scheme for licensing “noncommercial webcasters,” which are
defined as those that are, or have in good faith applied to be tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code
Section 501. See 17 U.S.C. § 111(a)(5) and 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(5)(E), respectively.
14
Because the study conducted focused on how the U.S. online population understands “noncommercial
use” due to resource constraints, a review of whether or how other countries’ laws may define such a use
and the relevance of any such definitions in the licensing context is beyond the scope of this Report.
15
See paragraph 4(b) of the CC BY-NC license at Appendix 5.3. Every CC license, including those with
the NC term, also expressly provides that fair use rights are not affected. See paragraph 2 of the CC BY-
NC license at Appendix 5.3.
16
The decision by CC to exclude this specific use case in its noncommercial licenses was driven in part by
the Napster court decision, in which the court concluded that the trading of music online was commercial
in nature even though no money exchanged hands. A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004
(9th Cir. 2001).
17
This estimate is based on Yahoo! Site Explorer counts of web pages linking to a CC noncommercial
license, as well as data from the photo-sharing website Flickr. See
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Metrics.
Defining Noncommercial 18
Creative Commons is committed to making its licenses as clear as possible for
both creators and users, and to communicating about its licenses in a manner
that is easily understandable. A sharing culture that is grounded in respect for
copyright cannot reach its fullest potential if creators and users have different
expectations and understandings regarding permissible uses of
noncommercially-licensed works. For these reasons and others, Creative
Commons seeks to better understand the points of connection and disconnection
between creators and users with respect to noncommercial use.
In December 2007, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded Creative
Commons a grant to commission the study reported here. Defining
“Noncommercial” had two main goals:
1) to undertake an empirical study that would survey variations in the
online U.S. general population’s understanding of the terms “commercial
use” and “noncommercial use,” when used in the context of the wide
variety of copyrighted works and content made available on the Internet;
and
2) to provide information and analysis that would be useful to Creative
Commons and to others in understanding the points of connection and
potential disconnection between creators and users of works licensed
under Creative Commons “NC” or other public copyright licenses
prohibiting commercial use.
The scope of research and methodology are described below, in Section 2.
Defining Noncommercial 19
2 Study
2.1 Scope of Research
Creative Commons licenses are available to all would-be licensors, and CC-
licensed works are available to all would-be licensees, worldwide. Because it is
the right of the creator to choose whether and how to license a work, the study
was designed to focus first on exploring “noncommercial use” from the viewpoint
of creators, as broadly and as deeply as practicable. Logistical and cost
restraints mandated that empirical research be confined to the United States,
however international perspectives were solicited during the qualitative research
stages as well as during the open access polls made available worldwide during
the quantitative research stages. The research was conducted solely in English.
At early stages of the study, two decisions were made that refocused the initial
research plan. The first decision resulted in limiting the research conducted on
different content communities. When the study was originally proposed, Creative
Commons was aware from its experience that certain “content communities”
shared some understandings about various kinds of content. To give two
examples, CC was aware that the print publishing industry distinguishes between
“commercial” and academic presses, and that magazine and newspaper
publishers refer routinely to “editorial” or “feature” content as opposed to
“advertising” or “commercial” content. Exploring specific usages thus seemed a
good direction for research. However, almost as soon as qualitative research
began it was determined that individual studies devoted to particular communities
and industries would be required in order to collect anything more than
generalities.
Consequently, a decision was made to focus resources looking for patterns that
might be found across high-level content communities and types of content,
since identification of any “universal” cross-community factors relevant to
understanding noncommercial use would be an important step in understanding
public noncommercial copyright licensing solutions. As a result, the quantitative
research on content communities and types of content was limited to a few very
general questions. The high-level communities that were ultimately sampled
were informed by the qualitative research – in particular, education, science,
music, visual art, film-making/video, entertainment, literature, journalism and
Defining Noncommercial 20
marketing.18 Common types of content based on qualitative research were
identified as well.19
The second decision was made during the first phase of quantitative research,
and resulted in adjusting the last phase of the study to probe understandings of
“noncommercial” among users of such content, including creators who also
identify as users of content. As the project progressed, it became clear that
before turning to the CC noncommercial license term itself, it was important to
test with users what was learned from creators about their basic understandings
of commercial and noncommercial use. As a consequence, the second phase of
empirical research (called Phase 3 in this Report) was designed to mirror the
subject areas of the first as closely as possible. However, it was soon obvious
that creators are also users of others’ works, and users of others’ content also
create their own works; indeed, much original creativity – “original” in both
copyright law and aesthetic or critical usage – historically is based on reuse.20
Thus, a decision was made to collect information from users who also identify as
creators. A few questions were added to the final phase of research to assist in
determining whether there are significant differences in understanding among
users who also see themselves as creators.
2.2 Description and Methodology
A three-phased study program was launched in 2008 and concluded in June
2009. The research was conducted by Netpop Research, LLC, a market
research firm chosen for its experience with online content development,
expertise with online technologies and knowledge of online consumer attitudes
and behaviors, including in connection with user-generated content. A
distinguished group of legal, public policy, and information technology experts
advised on research methodology and data analysis.21
Phase 1 consisted of project planning, formulation of research objectives,
consideration of relevant law, and review of materials Creative Commons had
already created or collected in connection with its NC licenses. These materials
18
These categories seem to have been reasonable choices, as only 17% of creators selected “Other”
when asked to categorize their works, and only 5% of users did so. See Figure 4, reproduced in
Appendix 5.6, Slide 6.
19
When asked about the most common type of online content respondents created or used, only 2% of
creators and 3% of users selected “Other,” rather than the available choices. See Figure 3 reproduced in
Appendix 5.6, Slide 4.
20
While “sampling” and “remixing” in their most specific definitions may be 20th and 21st century aesthetic
strategies and forms, there are antecedents and similar impulses in culture, worldwide and over many
centuries.
21
See Acknowledgements, above, for a list of project personnel, advisors and others who contributed to
this Report.
Defining Noncommercial 21
included a list of almost 100 actual use cases in which the meaning of the NC
license term or “noncommercial use” had been raised on Creative Commons
mailing lists and web-based fora,22 as well as in other discussions within the
Creative Commons community.
Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users) involved research, and ran from late
summer 2008 through mid-winter 2009, and mid-winter through late spring 2009,
respectively. As indicated, Phase 2 focused on content creators (licensors or
potential licensors); Phase 3 on content users (licensees or potential licensees).
Phase 2 and Phase 3 began with collection of qualitative data, primarily via focus
groups held both in-person and online. Phase 2 and Phase 3 each culminated in
two online surveys conducted simultaneously: an empirical survey of Internet
users in the United States (going forward, referred to sometimes in this Report as
the “online population” or “general population”), and an open access poll of
Creative Commons Friends and Family (meaning, those persons who
participated in the poll because they follow news of the organization or are
interested in the question of noncommercial use or copyright generally) (again,
sometimes referred to in this Report as “CCFF”). Both the Phase 2 (creators) and
Phase 3 (users) surveys were fielded in the English language only. Due to
budget limitations, the general population empirical survey was conducted in the
United States only. The CCFF open access poll included completed surveys from
respondents from around the world.
Research Objectives
During Phase 1, the primary objectives of the research were formulated. These
objectives were fairly simple.
First, the research sought to understand whether people believe that there
existed a real and meaningful distinction between commercial and
noncommercial use. Based on the previous five years of successful Creative
Commons license adoption and use, CC wanted to understand whether the most
common understanding of “noncommercial use” across the online population (not
confined to CC licensors or licensees) involves some formulation of the idea that
the use should not be made in order to make money. Creative Commons also
wanted to know whether there is consensus around the idea that an individual’s
personal or private use of content is not considered a commercial use.23
22
This effort was led by Creative Commons community member Evan Prodromou. See
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-licenses/2005-April/002215.html.
23
The existence of this understanding is distinct from the question of whether conduct separate from its
commerciality, such as illegal downloading/sharing of content, can take place in private. That question is
not addressed by this study.
Defining Noncommercial 22
Dialogue within the organization and other communities and interest groups
suggested substantial differences of opinion might exist on a few points, perhaps
most visibly in connection with online advertising. Whether NC-licensed content
is appropriately used on websites or blogs supported by advertising is a question
that CC is asked with some frequency. Some believe that because the web-
advertising model is based on traffic, any use of content that helps increase visits
to a particular web page containing advertising is commercial. Others believe that
the ad-supported model is an innocuous reality of web-based content distribution.
Some also question whether use of content by a for-profit organization can ever
be anything but commercial, while others believe that use by a not-for-profit
should always be considered noncommercial regardless of the particular use.
Further, some have questions about whether costs in connection with the use
and further distribution of NC-licensed content may be recovered, and if so, how
much (for example, may a school charge students for NC-licensed educational
materials, and if so, may cost recovery include staff salaries?).
Finally, it was expected that even among those who create and use a lot of
content, the U.S. online population is largely unfamiliar with copyright law or
licensing.
Qualitative Research
Interviews
Testing the research objectives started as soon as qualitative research began,
with 30-90 minute telephone interviews of persons identified as experts in some
aspect of online content production and/or distribution, primarily in the United
States but also elsewhere. Interviewees included representatives from some
Creative Commons license adopters, as well as organizations interested in
adopting CC licensing. The objective was to add detail to the range of issues
surrounding definitions of noncommercial use, understanding and adoption of
public copyright licenses generally, and reception of the noncommercial licenses
specifically.
A basic outline was created that served as a topic guide for the interviews, which
covered subjects ranging from online distribution models for music and video,
academic and scientific publishing, search and content-linked advertising, access
to curricular materials in developing countries, and the popularity of photo-
sharing and user-generated content websites, to online consumer behaviors and
marketing, copyright education, and copyright policy in the United States and
internationally. Over the course of the project, more than 20 interviews were
conducted by the market research consultant and/or the project director.
Defining Noncommercial 23
Focus Groups
The focus groups for both Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users) were a mix of
in-person sessions convened in major American cities, and online bulletin board-
type discussions, which allowed the inclusion of people who live in other cities
and countries. In Phase 2 (creators), six in-person focus groups (each two hours
in length) were conducted with a total of 35 participants in San Francisco, New
York and Los Angeles, and one online focus group (with postings over a period
of 3 days) was conducted with 12 participants from around the world. In Phase 3
(users), the total number of in-person groups was reduced in order to hold more
online discussions, resulting in four groups in San Francisco and New York with
a total of 26 participants, and two online groups with a total of 20 participants
from around the world. In all, over 90 people participated in focus groups. Every
group, whether in-person or online, was moderated by principals of the firm
serving as market research consultant and observed by other project personnel.
The format of the in-person groups allowed for free-flowing discussion. The
online groups by necessity proceeded asynchronously, though participants were
highly responsive to questions posted by the moderator, and sometimes
commented on other participants’ replies in a threaded discussion format.
Recruiting for the focus groups aimed at gathering participants from a cross-
section of communities and industries. Because as an organization Creative
Commons has had extensive experience with a passionate amateur base of
creators, Phase 2 (creators) deliberately included mostly professional creators
with whom CC has had relatively less experience. For Phase 3 (users), in
addition to tapping persons and organizations known to be deeply engaged in
using and curating content, an open call for participation was made via the
Creative Commons website. This was done in order both to bring more amateurs
into the mix and to provide a way for anyone interested enough to volunteer to
participate.
The focus groups were composed differently. Some included participants drawn
primarily from a particular community or industry or two (however generally
described, such as “educators” and “publishing”). Others were a deliberate mix of
participants coming from very different contexts (for example, technology and
ecommerce experts with artists and cultural organization administrators).
Different types of people were brought together during the focus groups: persons
making and using content of all types; those with a range of cultural and
economic values; amateurs and professionals; persons who “grew up digital” with
persons who already had long experience in the media and content industries
before the Internet existed; individuals with others representing both for-profit and
not-for-profit corporate creators, users and curators; and people from across the
copyright policy spectrum with people who had little knowledge of copyright
Defining Noncommercial 24
beyond the fact that it exists. For the most part, lawyers were excluded except
when they had substantial experience in a more purely “business” aspect of
content production or distribution. Although groups in Phase 2 were asked to
focus on the perspective of creators, and groups in Phase 3 were asked to focus
on the perspective of users, many participants in each Phase were “cross-overs,”
able to speak from both perspectives.
Key findings from the qualitative research are described in Section 3.1.
Quantitative Research
Sample Methodology
The target population was U.S. Internet users who created (Phase 2) or used
(Phase 3) copyrightable online material in the past 12 months. Respondents for
this study were selected to represent the U.S. Internet population 18+, in age and
gender using a best practices online consumer market research panel as the
sampling frame.
Greenfield Online provided the sample for both phases of quantitative research.
Greenfield Online maintains quality standards for respondent recruitment and
management by recruiting respondents from multiple websites via banner
advertising and text links. The Greenfield Online panel had an active member
base (members who have taken a survey within the last six months or registered
within the last two months) of 253,878 panelists in June 2009. While samples for
these studies were selected using best practices for selecting and managing
online panel respondents, online panels comprise volunteer or opt-in participants
who receive various rewards for their survey participation. The decision to use an
online consumer market research panel was based on consideration of the target
population – the U.S. online population, not the general population – and a
cost/benefit analysis of using telephone sampling techniques. Furthermore,
Creative Commons desire to field the survey via an open access poll to the
Creative Commons community added to the benefits of hosting the study
online.24
Netpop Research further managed respondent selection by using stratified
random sampling based on a joint distribution of age/gender categories
throughout the duration of data collection. Benchmarks for the stratification were
based on reliable market data obtained from Pew Internet Project, the U.S.
Census Bureau (The National Data Book) and internal historical information.
Data collection was controlled through a combination of sending reminders to
24
For more information about the Greenfield Online panel, see: http://www.greenfield-
ciaosurveys.com/html/home.htm and http://www.qualitydataprogram.com/qdp.html.
Defining Noncommercial 25
active invitees and releasing fresh invitations through the data collection period.
The actual compositions of all age/gender categories are within +/- 2 percentage
points of the benchmarks. Releasing survey invitations in controlled waves
reduces the potential bias from including too many rapid responders in the final
sample. This procedure – introducing controlled waves of invitees matched to
Internet population benchmarks – ensures that all respondents reaching the
actual screening questions are proportionately representative of the U.S. Internet
population based on age/gender benchmarks. The procedure may be
reproduced in other markets for future research.
For Phase 2 (creators), respondents were screened for eligibility by being asked:
“In the last 12 months, have you created any of the following types of
works or content? Please select all that apply.”25
Respondents who selected “None” or only “Other,” rather than any one of a
randomized list of 10 types of content (videos, songs, photos, etc.) were not
permitted to proceed with the survey. The objective here was to screen for
respondents who view themselves as creators, and who likely create some
content that is copyrightable (even if they are not themselves aware that
copyright may exist).26
For Phase 3 (users), respondents were screened for eligibility by being asked:
“In the last 12 months, have you used any online content in any of the
following ways?”27
Respondents who selected “None” or only “Other,” rather than any one of a
randomized list of seven types of activity involving use of content online
(accessing, downloading, posting, etc.), were not permitted to proceed with the
survey.28
The composition of the resulting set of completes was allowed to fall-out naturally
and no weighting of the data was applied during analysis. Content creators and
content users who are members of the online population in the United States
25
See Creative Commons, Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Creators (September
2009), (“Creators Questionnaire”) at Appendix 5.4, Question 3.
26
The study was not limited to creators who put their content online, because although much content
continues to be created and live offline, in theory any work can be published on the Internet as a copy or
in the form of documentation.
27
See Creative Commons, Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Users (September 2009),
(“Users Questionnaire”) at Appendix 5.5, Question 3.
28
Here, respondents were sought who definitely use content online, because the Internet is the primary
means for distributing publicly licensed works.
Defining Noncommercial 26
tend to be younger and skew slightly male (3%) than the online population in
general. Graphs illustrating the Internet Population benchmarks used, the
composition of qualified starts (sample composition) and the composition of
completed surveys are presented below.
Figure 1: Phase 2 – Content Creators [Appendix 5.6, Slide 2]
Figure 2: Phase 3 – Content Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 3]
Finally, post-field data cleansing was implemented to remove “speeders” from
the data set. Respondents who completed the study in less than 7.5 minutes
were removed from each phase of quantitative research. It is possible for
respondents to pause their participation in a survey and return to it at a later time.
Thus, several outliers from each phase were not included in the mean time
calculations: For Phase 2 (creators), 5 respondents who took between 1085
minutes – 1760 minutes were excluded, and 2 respondents from Phase 3 (users)
who took 715 minutes and 1016 minutes were excluded.
Defining Noncommercial 27
Phase 2 – Content Creators Phase 3 – Content Users
Response rate 5% 6.00%
Abandon rate 18% 17.00%
Incidence rate 31% 53.00%
Avg. time to complete survey 21 minutes 20 minutes
Sample size 1000 1005
Collection Period 2008-11-25 to 2008-12-12 2009-04-19 to 2009-04-29
Table 2: Content Creators and Content Users Dataset.
Surveys
The core of the questionnaire consisted of questions designed to elicit unaided
definitions of commercial use and noncommercial use, followed by a
“gatekeeping” exercise intended to identify uses that respondents believe to be
“definitely” commercial or noncommercial, and an “anchor point” allocation
exercise that measured response to five unqualified use scenarios suggested as
basic starting points, then compared that response to more detailed and nuanced
scenarios. A question testing reaction to the language of the Creative Commons
NC term was also included. The questionnaire for Phase 3 (users) was based on
the questionnaire developed for Phase 2 (creators), but was tailored for users. It
also omitted several questions on online sharing behaviors, in order to include
others exploring users’ activities and attitudes as creators.
Open Access Polls29
In both Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users), an open access poll targeted at
Creative Commons Friends and Family was fielded simultaneously with the U.S.
sample survey. The CCFF polls were based on the general population survey
questionnaires, but included additional questions specifically about Creative
Commons and the NC license term. After launch, each poll remained open for
approximately three weeks. The polls were announced on the Creative
Commons blog and promoted via Twitter, Identi.ca and Creative Commons
international affiliate websites. The announcement of the Phase 2 (creators) poll
was picked up by several other widely read blogs. For Phase 2 (creators), CCFF
completed 3,337 questionnaires; 437 completed questionnaires during Phase 3
(users).
29
Open access polls should not be confused with the “open access” movement, in which many Creative
Commons community members are involved. As used here, open access refers to the fact that anybody
who became aware of the poll and so desired could participate.
Defining Noncommercial 28
The goal of the CCFF polls was to collect more information relevant to
understanding global interpretations of noncommercial use, although as noted
above the polls were fielded in English only and could not be considered
scientific because of the self-selected nature of the CCFF sample. The polls were
intended to allow those interested in the subject to express their opinions. It was
expected that the CCFF audience would include more respondents
knowledgeable about copyright and copyright licensing and have views about the
Creative Commons NC term itself.
Copies of the quantitative research questionnaires, indicating the programming
instructions that determined how they were presented to individual respondents,
are included at the end of this Report.
The results of the quantitative research are described in Section 3.2.
Defining Noncommercial 29
3 Findings
The findings for Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users) are reported
comparatively, rather than in the chronological sequence in which the data were
collected. Section 3.1 reports the findings of qualitative research, which informed
the design of the questionnaires used to collect quantitative data. For those
readers who wish to go directly to the data collected from the U.S. online
population, Section 3.2 reports those survey results. Section 3.3 reports the
results of the polls of Creative Commons Friends and Family, in comparison to
U.S. content creators and users. Section 3.4 provides a summary of research
findings.
3.1 Qualitative Research
Phase 2: Creators
Participants in the Phase 2 focus groups were asked to consider the question of
noncommercial use from their point of view as creators. The primary objectives of
Phase 2 of research were to:
1) explore how content creators decide whether a particular use of
content is commercial or noncommercial; and
2) determine whether creators could be grouped based on a shared
definition of noncommercial use.
Qualitative research revealed variations of understanding even among creators
who identify with communities that may appear to share certain vocabulary,
contexts, norms or general values. To give two examples, within “the education
community” there are differences in understanding of and approach to the
question of commercial versus noncommercial use, in part because of efforts to
define “open access” and the growth of the open educational resources
movement. Within “the arts community,” an increasing number of artists and
cultural organizations are experimenting with newer models both for content
distribution and revenue generation, resulting somewhat paradoxically in greater
interest in exploring the return on “giving away” content, and greater interest in
exploiting control of access to content that might have untapped commercial
value. In each case, previous understandings of commercial and noncommercial
use are destabilized. Other examples of developing and shifting understandings
of “what can be done with content” are available from every sector of “the content
industry.”
Defining Noncommercial 30
However, no matter which content community or communities participants in
Phase 2 (creators) were willing to identify with, no matter how traditional or
innovative their creative and/or business models, or where they stood with
respect to debates about the need for more or less copyright protection, virtually
all agreed that there was an important distinction between commercial and
noncommercial use. Yet, they could articulate no single common definition. So
how do creators approach the question of deciding what counts as commercial
use, what noncommercial?
Many participants in the Phase 2 (creators) groups were familiar with at least the
basics of copyright. Most participants thought that “noncommercial use” had no
legal definition, or were not sure. Many U.S. creators were aware that the
doctrine of fair use allows some use of others’ content without their permission,
as were creators outside the United States who were aware of a similar law in
their legal jurisdictions. Some participants believed noncommercial use to be
more likely a fair use than not, and some conflated noncommercial use and fair
use. Some participants also mentioned personal or private use as being both
legally and pragmatically a noncommercial use, though they were not certain of
any law defining “personal use.” During these discussions the moderator was
careful to keep participants focused on their understandings of what a license for
noncommercial use would permit, and how any law would be relevant to that.
There was no consensus on this point, and in some cases, there was
misinformation and misunderstanding even on settled points of law. Some
participants expressed the belief that more law would be helpful; others
disagreed, viewing the question as one that creators are able and should be able
to decide.
Internet technology professionals and those focusing primarily on the creation
and distribution of web-based content typically take a more liberal stance.
Orienting around open source software licensing standards, some (though not
all) embrace a “copyleft” philosophy and theorize the implications of abolishing
the noncommercial distinction altogether. Many are more concerned with proper
attribution than commercial gain, hoping the use will be fair and equitable. Some
use technology to license low fidelity versions of the work for noncommercial use
and reserve the high fidelity versions for commercial gain.
When asked to share their understandings of noncommercial use, no participant
could provide a definition of noncommercial use that worked for everyone in their
particular group, although there was much agreement on elements of many of
the definitions. Through discussion, it emerged that creators take a variety of
factors into account when determining what constitutes noncommercial use.
These factors are often considered on a case-by-case basis, although some
Defining Noncommercial 31
creators were comfortable with the idea of categories of cases, for example,
“educational use” – even though those categories are not consistently defined.
However, participants across communities were able to articulate a list of factors
they generally agreed as a group were relevant to creators’ understanding of
whether a use of a work is commercial or noncommercial. After the first couple of
in-person groups during which these factors had begun to emerge, the group
moderator began moving more quickly and openly to the collaborative creation of
such a list, probing for nuances, qualifiers, and outliers.
The lists created were not identical, and there was no unanimity of opinion on
any hierarchy of the factors other than a strong tendency to put the question of
money-making at or very near the top. Uses in connection with advertising also
featured prominently. Overall, there was a remarkable degree of consensus
around the relevance of each of the “consideration factors” on the list ultimately
synthesized (below, in no known order of priority, particularly at the time). Most
importantly, these factors were relevant to creators across a breadth of content
communities and industries. In addition, at least at that this level of research,
there were no significant differences of opinion between participants in the United
States and those elsewhere.
Qualitative Research Consideration Factors30
Perceived economic value of the content
The status of the user as an individual, an amateur or professional, a for-profit or not-for-profit
organization, etc.
Whether the use makes money (and if so, whether revenues are profit or recovery of costs
associated with use)
Whether the use generates promotional value for the creator or the user
Whether the use is personal or private
Whether the use is for a charitable purpose or other social or public good
Whether the use is supported by advertising or not
Whether the content is used in part or in whole
Whether the use has an impact on the market or is by a competitor
Table 3: Qualitative Research Consideration Factors.
In general, creators did not consider the media in which content is created or
potentially used relevant in and of itself to the question of whether a use is
30
Some consideration factors identified in the qualitative research were hypothetical in nature, such as
perceived economic value of the content and potential impact on the market. These factors were not
included in the quantitative stages of the study.
Defining Noncommercial 32
commercial or noncommercial. However, some raised the fact that some content
in digital form has greater potential economic value than other types of content –
music and movies were frequently cited examples.
It was recognized that a list of consideration factors alone could not define
noncommercial use. Most participants insisted that any definition would have to
include expressed rules and limits for most of the factors. Further, participants
were deeply skeptical that even with the aid of such a list, any single definition
could be formulated.
Creators in the groups recognized that they consider some factors more
important than others, and they also weigh the factors differently. Some consider
certain factors to be “gatekeeping” questions, the answer to which settles the
matter. Some creators consider a use commercial if there is any advertising in
connection with it, for example. Others consider certain factors to be questions of
degree. For example, some creators consider recovery of costs to distribute a
work a noncommercial use, but not if salaries or other overhead are calculated
as part of cost recovery. Rather than constituting a simple checklist, for many
creators the factors exist within a matrix in which the type of use (for example,
promotional or advertising use) and the context or community-based nature of
the use (for example, charitable use, or use in a public school) are important
vectors. In sum, the decision-making process is not clear-cut.31
31
The following few examples of each factor, raised by focus group participants and expressed in the form
of questions or scenarios that might be put to a creator considering whether to license content for
noncommercial use, may help illustrate the complex nature of some of the decision-making involved.
Economic value: Might the work itself be worth substantially more in the future? Does allowing
noncommercial use of the work build demand for commercial use of the work, or depress it?
Status of the user: Individual or organization Can an individual use music licensed for
noncommercial use in a podcast? What if that individual is a world-renowned celebrity and the podcast
has been downloaded over 100 million times, albeit for free? Can a small “mom and pop” organization
create a presentation that includes content licensed for noncommercial use and distribute it internally to a
few employees? What if the organization is a highly profitable multinational? For-profit or not-for-profit
Can a large for-profit company use an image licensed for noncommercial use in free educational
materials they distribute to schools? Can a not-for-profit entity such as a big public university sell in its gift
shop a notebook whose cover includes an image licensed for noncommercial use? Amateur or
professional Can an amateur blogger use images licensed for noncommercial use? What if the blog
includes advertising and generates $50 per month? What if the advertising generates $50,000 per
month? Can an individual who relies on blogging as a primary source of income use images licensed for
noncommercial use?
Monetary compensation and cost recovery: Can a not-for-profit organization sell educational
materials licensed for noncommercial use to a less-developed country? What if the organization only
generates enough revenues from the sale of these materials to cover the costs of production and
distribution? What if the organization earns one cent beyond cost recovery that they reinvest in the
organization to help sustain its humanitarian operations? If a website redistributes music licensed for
noncommercial use, is that website allowed to charge an access fee solely for the purposes of
maintaining itself as a means of distribution for noncommercial music? What if this process unintentionally
results in a profit for the site?
Promotional value: What if a music website does an entire promotional campaign around
distributing an artist’s noncommercially-licensed work, greatly increasing traffic and therefore advertising
Defining Noncommercial 33
However, virtually all creators agree that a noncommercial use is one in which
“no money changes hands.” Many then add that for a use to be truly
noncommercial, there should also be no indirect commercial gain. Yet everyone
recognizes that indirect commercial gain may be impossible to avoid – and may
accrue to the creator as well as (or instead of) the user. Many group participants
noted that there are promotional and thus potentially economic or commercial
advantages to creators in connection with releasing content freely for
noncommercial use. For these creators, “credit” for permitting noncommercial
use is very important, and the question of attribution is something that gets
factored into their consideration of when a use is acceptable. For example,
attribution is often more important to artists and programmers than protecting
particular content that might have some economic value, sometimes but not
always on the theory that attribution may ultimately lead to overall greater
commercial gain. This suggests that the CC license attribution requirement may
be an important factor in at least some creators’ understanding/perception of the
NC license term. At the same time, some participants noted that users can derive
promotional advantage from use of others’ works, and wondered when
“promotional” becomes “commercial” advantage. As a practical matter, many
seem to consider noncommercial use as having minimal or indirect commercial
impact, rather than absolutely no commercial impact.
revenues generated from other sections of their site? What if the campaign pushes the artist’s new music
to the top of the charts? Does it matter whether the website or the artist benefits more from the
campaign?
Personal or private use: What if the user posts a work licensed for noncommercial use to a
personal blog? What if the blog has thousands of regular readers? What if the blog promotes the user’s
own work? What if the work goes viral, and the blogger is credited as the source of the work?
Charitable purpose or social good: Can a not-for-profit sell copies of a work to raise money to
donate to disaster relief? What if an elementary school shows a video of a popular movie at a fundraiser
for which they collect $10 per attendee? Does it matter if the school is public or private? What if an
otherwise charitable use is underwritten by a corporate sponsorship?
Advertising: Can a blogger use material licensed for noncommercial use if the blog is hosted by
a company that places ads around the licensed content and does not share advertising revenues with the
blogger? Does it matter if the blogger makes some minimal amount of money from the advertising? What
if there are paid search ads or “sponsored links” on the blog? What about content licensed for
noncommercial use posted to an ad-supported site that gets traffic because of the volume of works it
aggregates, and which does not share revenues with posters?
Use in part or whole: Is only part of the work being used, so that the rest is still available for
commercial exploitation? Does use of the part build or depress demand for the whole? Does use of the
entire work benefit the creator by providing greater exposure?
Impact on the market or use by competitor: Does making content available for noncommercial
use diminish the economic value of related or similar content? Conversely, might this help build a market?
Could noncommercial uses of content eventually be perceived as commercial, as markets are
developed? What if a creator licenses an image for noncommercial use, and another creator in the same
market space uses that image in a demo or proposal?
Defining Noncommercial 34
Many creators are also more inclined to let their evaluation of a use shift toward
“noncommercial” when the use is made for some charitable purpose, or to
promote some social or public good. For example, a creator may usually
consider advertising a commercial use, but not if the advertising is for a
charitable organization. Yet that same creator also may want to distinguish
between charitable organizations with more or fewer resources, or charitable
purposes or social causes that align with the creator’s values, or not. Thus the
decision-making process is further complicated by subjective or personal views;
that is, what may be a social good to the user may be objectionable to the
creator. While some content creators are aware that some consideration factors
may have a legal dimension beyond the licensor’s control, at least in the United
States (for example, “whether the use is morally objectionable” would be
irrelevant if a use of content was otherwise fair and legal), others are not.
In the absence of contractual or licensing terms for noncommercial use, many
creators rely on formulations that are unique to their particular situations, or
which may be used by similar creators (even though these formulations may not
rise to the level of a shared community or industry standard). Often these
formulations cannot be made easily known to users (for a variety of reasons,
including that the distribution of the content may not be entirely under the
creator’s control); sometimes the creator does not bother to make them known,
at least not unless the would-be user contacts the creator, or the creator
discovers an unacceptable use. Many of these formulations are also open to
interpretation, as is demonstrated by these verbatim examples of what
“noncommercial use” means in practice for some creators:
• “if I have nothing to gain, then it’s noncommercial”
• “if you can afford it, please pay; if not, that’s okay”
• “what we consider to be ‘truly’ educational use”
Many creators also establish different standards for release of content for
noncommercial as opposed to commercial use. For example, creators release
low fidelity or low resolution versions of a work for noncommercial use, but
reserve high fidelity or high resolution versions for commercial exploitation.
Internet technology professionals and those focusing primarily on the creation
and distribution of web-based content typically take the most liberal stance with
respect to permissible uses, particularly those who describe themselves as
sympathetic to the principles of the open source software movement and/or who
espouse a “copyleft” philosophy. On the most extreme end of this scale, a few
respondents advocated the free circulation and distribution of content as an
Defining Noncommercial 35
absolute good, and thus opposed any restrictions on use, including restrictions
on commercial use.
While Creative Commons openly convened the focus groups, the emphasis of
research was on creators’ own understanding of noncommercial use. Many
participants in the groups had only minimal familiarity with Creative Commons.
However, when time and the flow of discussion allowed, some groups were
presented with the language of the Creative Commons NC term as a possible
definition of noncommercial use.32 This was done without identifying the source,
but many participants guessed, and a few knew the term before coming to the
group. Many participants felt the definition captured their basic understanding of
noncommercial use, but was too general to be useful for application to many
specific situations. Others deemed the ability of the definition to apply to a range
of otherwise unspecified situations a strength. Many participants, including some
of those who felt the definition was compatible with or close to theirs, criticized
the language as vague or unclear, focusing particularly on the meaning of
“primarily intended” and “commercial advantage,” and the import of the adjective
“private” as applied to “monetary compensation.” Some criticized the definition as
tautological, because it includes the word “commercial.” Virtually all agreed that
more explanation and/or examples of specific noncommercial uses presented in
connection with the definition would be helpful – and some put it more strongly
than that.
Many participants disagreed with the idea that a single definition of
noncommercial use could be workable. Some raised the possibility of developing
a range of public copyright noncommercial use licensing solutions, in different
“flavors” for different uses and/or contexts. Others emphasized the advantages of
a single standardized license term that might work for a majority of creators and
users.33 When pressed to express a percentage, however speculative, a few
agreed that such a solution might be found for maybe 80% of cases.
Finally, although the focus in Phase 2 was on content creators, a lot was heard
about and from content users. Many group participants introduced their own
experiences using content created by others into the discussion, sometimes to
describe a situation involving a creator with a different perspective, sometimes to
make a point about how their own views as creators were formed. These
discussions informed the decision to focus Phase 3 of the research on content
users, in order to learn more about how understandings of noncommercial use
may differ from one side of the licensing equation or the other.
32
The Creative Commons NC term restricts use in “any manner that is primarily intended for or directed
towards commercial advantage or private monetary compensation.”
33
Those more familiar with Internet culture also point to other challenges in connection with advancing
public copyright licensing generally, including establishing attribution standards, increasing indexability
and search functionality for locating works, and concerns about enforcement.
Defining Noncommercial 36
The generation of a “consideration factors” list in Phase 2 (creators) focus groups
inspired an approach and much of the content for the questionnaire developed
for quantitative research, described below.
Phase 3: Users
Mirroring Phase 2, the primary objectives of Phase 3 qualitative research were
to:
1) explore how content users decide whether a particular use of
content is commercial or noncommercial; and
2) determine whether users could be grouped based on a shared
definition of noncommercial use.
Additionally, this Phase of research investigated users’ identification and
experience as creators.
In order to define “user,” participants were asked to think of all the various “use”
activities in which they might engage: copying and downloading content, sharing
and further distributing a copy of content, incorporating content into some other
work, or manipulating or altering content. In discussion of these uses, immediate
similarities appeared between the perspectives of those using content and the
perspective of creators explored in Phase 2 (creators) focus groups. Like
creators, users do not share a single definition of noncommercial use, and there
are significant differences in understanding even within particular communities or
industries. The majority of both groups tends to think that “noncommercial use”
has no legal definition, or is not sure. Users are also uncertain (and sometimes
misinformed) about the relation of noncommercial use to fair use or personal use.
However, many of the participants in Phase 3 (users) groups would not classify
themselves strictly as “users,” explaining that the categories of pure creator
(someone who creates “something from nothing”) and pure user (passive
consumer) are increasingly rare and/or inadequate. Rather than “user,” many of
these participants from across content communities prefer terms such as “re-
user” or “re-purposer,” terms that express strong beliefs that their use of content
is itself creative. These participants in particular acknowledge remixing and
sampling as vital cultural phenomena, although it has to be said that the
definitions or legality of these activities were not established in the groups. Just
as the moderator remained careful to curtail discussion of the scope of fair use to
its relevance to the definition of noncommercial use, the group moderator also
asked respondents to focus on situations in which a creator’s willingness to
Defining Noncommercial 37
license was not in question, only the understanding of what a license for
noncommercial use would permit beyond fair use.
Other participants found different ways of describing “value-added” user activity.
Those who work in libraries, museums and other cultural repositories and
institutions often refer to themselves as “curators” of content, or “mediators,”
“facilitators” or “intermediaries” between creators and users of content. These
participants are typically involved as well in creating content such as text for the
organization’s records, blog or other publications. Some participants working in
web-based content contexts refer to themselves as “guardians” or “shepherds” of
the metadata associated with digitally created or hosted works, and explain that
their roles in organizing metadata schemas and aggregating content have a
creative dimension that may add value to the content itself.34
Those who identified as both users and creators seemed to agree that their
experience had influenced their perspectives on the question of what constitutes
noncommercial use, making them more aware of the issues and their
implications. Yet, despite being better able to articulate the complexities and
nuances of the issues, user-creators did not express differences in opinion from
other users, or from other creators for that matter.
When asked to evaluate the list of commercial/noncommercial use consideration
factors developed in Phase 2 (creators) qualitative research, participants in
Phase 3 (users) agreed with their relevance. Even after much discussion, no new
factor was added although, as mentioned below, two were proposed. Reaction to
the utility of the list also was the same: participants in both Phases 2 and 3 agree
that a positive definition of “noncommercial use” would have to establish rules or
limits for most of the factors. Furthermore, users are as skeptical as creators that
a single definition of noncommercial use can be formulated.
Users added more color and depth to many of the possible use cases explored
with creators, but no completely new scenarios.35 Overall, users did seem to view
uses involving cost recovery as somewhat more commercial than creators, and
they did express some concerns that had not been raised or had not fully
surfaced in Phase 2 (creators).
A few individual users voiced some feelings of guilt for taking advantage of the
ambiguity regarding the distinction between commercial and noncommercial use,
34
A few participants were aware that copyright in organizational schemas may exist in the United States,
and that the copyrightability of metadata has been raised as a question by some. Some also were aware
that data and databases are protected by copyright in some jurisdictions outside of the United States.
These participants expressed wariness about the impact of copyright in data and metadata, seeming to
believe it would stifle rather than promote the development of web-based products and services.
35
Users came up with many of the same (or very similar) examples to illustrate the difficulty of making the
commercial/noncommercial distinction that creators did, as reported in footnote 31, above.
Defining Noncommercial 38
and what they judge to be the low risk of being discovered or pursued for
infringement.36 Interestingly, for some this guilt appears exacerbated by their
mostly untested belief that creators define noncommercial more narrowly than
they do, especially when the creators are trying to make a living from their works.
One participant said that in the current environment, many users are essentially
creating new “pies,” that is, new products and/or markets based at least in part
on use of others’ content without giving anything back to the creators of the
original pies. Some users make a point of giving attribution to the creator as a
way of giving back, even when not requested.
Indeed, some Phase 3 (users) participants assert a “new orientation around
creating” is the primary cause of confusion or ambiguity regarding the
commercial/noncommercial distinction. They point to the fact that some creators
feel that the recognition made possible by the Internet is reward enough for
creating content, and suggest that the implications of this new reality are two-
fold: creators who earn a living from their work experience greater competition
and pressure to find new ways of making money, and attribution is increasingly
perceived by some creators and some users as sufficient compensation for
producing content and making it available to others. These participants
emphasize the need for standards and/or rules regarding credit that should be
given to the source of content used; in the words of one participant, “to think of
noncommercial [use] without attribution is faulty.”
Among users who are not interested in making money from their uses of others’
work, or who work for not-for-profits, many present themselves as conscientious
experimenters who want to do new, interesting and socially useful things with
content, ideally using ethical guidelines that have been endorsed by the
community. For these users, lack of clarity around the meaning of
noncommercial use is particularly frustrating.
Participants representing not-for-profit cultural and educational institutions
expressed not only frustration but also some real worry about possible litigation,
particularly as they strive to take advantage of new possibilities for content
collection and distribution enabled by developing technologies and meet the
corresponding new expectations from their audience or “clients.” For example,
36
Some individual users openly admitted to sometimes using content without permission and without
being sure it was fair use (or with some expectation that it was not fair use), because they judged it too
complicated or costly to find out what the creator would allow. Many of these users feel that if such uses
are noncommercial, and/or if they offer some promotional advantage to the creator, they are more likely to
be tolerated. Some also feel that so long as such uses are not highly visible or profitable, even if they are
commercial uses, at worst their risk of getting into trouble is low. Many other individual users stated they
try to “operate under the radar,” working within largely self-prescribed parameters, with some
acknowledging a certain struggle to balance their own conflicting ethical and opportunistic impulses. It is
worth noting that a number of participants in both Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users) focus groups
agreed that some users behave differently online, specifically that they “start doing things with other
people’s stuff” that they wouldn’t normally do.
Defining Noncommercial 39
users who work for archives and educational say they have to “play all sides” in
an attempt to reconcile what often seem to be opposing interests in content.
These users struggle to find ways of making more content available to the public
while negotiating the demands of some creators and content providers (or their
in-house counsel or administrators) to restrict access.
In general, the lack of accurate knowledge and the abundance of misinformation
about copyright law and fair use revealed in qualitative research are notable,
particularly among professionals working with content. Many users are aware of
this problem. Even accomplished professionals openly question their own
understanding and judgments about the distinction between commercial and
noncommercial use. Educators in particular seem to feel they are in a difficult
position because they see a need for greater understanding of copyright law and
fair use among students at all levels, but are also grappling with their own lack of
knowledge. Many participants from a range of cultural organizations report a high
degree of internal confusion and risk aversion, as well as lack of any internal
resources to increase understanding of the legalities concerning much use of
content.
Participants representing corporations or who deal with corporations, especially
those with more traditional business models, say the ambiguity around
noncommercial use often prevents much content from being used. They assert
big corporations “won’t touch” works licensed for noncommercial use because of
uncertainty over the term, and that the noncommercial label may even have a
chilling effect on uses that creators may not intend to restrict. For example,
technology industry representatives explain that working with noncommercial
use-licensed databases would mean the loss of ability to partner with large
companies, because “even a whiff of noncommercial and companies will not use
it.”
A few Phase 3 (users) participants in the in-person groups also raised as
potential additional consideration factors the notions of “community support,” and
“promotion of public discourse.” The rationale for the first proposed additional
factor was that if a particular use serves the “authentic” needs of a community, it
should be considered a permitted use (at least within that community); the
rationale for the second was that if the intention of the use is to enter something
into public discourse, it too should be permitted. The format of the focus groups
did not permit in-depth discussion of these points, but the feeling generally
among participants seemed to be that were these proposals to find broad
support, as noncommercial use “consideration factors” at least they were already
captured by the factor recognizing “promotion of a public or social good.”37
37
It was not clear whether in a public copyright licensing scheme “community support” could be something
other than a special-interest carve-out, or whether facilitating any commercial restriction on “promotion of
public discourse” was in the greatest public interest.
Defining Noncommercial 40
As do creators, users often approach the question of noncommercial use on a
case-by-case basis. Paralleling many creators’ approach to deciding when to
allow or license a noncommercial use, many users also explained they use
content guided by their own principles or personal rules of thumb, or in accord
with practices followed by other users, which they hope creators are more likely
to accept, on a “safety in numbers” theory. Verbatim examples of how some
users articulate their understanding of when a use is noncommercial include:
• “if it’s for education or personal use”
• “if it does not compete – noncommercial is really non-compete”
• “if the creator is getting promotional value”
When Phase 3 (users) groups were presented with the language of the Creative
Commons NC term as a possible definition of “noncommercial use” (again,
without identifying its source), their reactions were similar to those of participants
in Phase 2 (creators). Most participants said the description is vague, specifically
criticizing the phrases “primarily intended” and “commercial advantage.” Some
also questioned the meaning of “private monetary compensation,” and pointed
out the tautology of using the word “commercial” in a definition of noncommercial
use.
Participants made various suggestions for improving the Creative Commons NC
term, but none seemed certain the result would yield a truly effective solution.
While many suggested that examples of use cases would be helpful, as did
participants in Phase 2 (creators), there seemed to be pessimism that this would
solve the problem since new use cases could always arise. Several Phase 3
(users) respondents specifically suggested including attribution in the term as a
way of striking some balance or ensuring some equity between user and creator.
Ultimately many Phase 3 (users) participants engaged in a more general debate
around the pros and cons of having a definition that is more broadly, or narrowly,
defined. Some recommended a broader definition, suggesting that would best
serve the purpose of accommodating developing understandings of
noncommercial use, as social practices and business models change in
response to new technologies. Others recommended a more narrow definition,
believing it more important to counter the chilling effect caused by uncertainty
around understandings of noncommercial uses. Some further recommended
avoiding trying to “define the gray,” and specifically suggested that a definition of
noncommercial use that at least establishes any non-controversial use cases
Defining Noncommercial 41
would be helpful. Examples offered were personal uses at home, or uses by
students for school projects.
Speaking as users, some Phase 3 participants expressed a certain amount of
anxiety that examination of uncertainties around the commercial/noncommercial
divide could in the short term “spoil the party” by causing some creators to
rethink licensing content for noncommercial use. At the same time, they are
concerned that the sense of opportunity and expansiveness that characterizes
legitimate online content-sharing will be dampened if creators lose confidence
that users understand and respect their intentions in licensing content for
noncommercial use.
3.2 Quantitative Research: U.S. Online Population
The primary objectives of the quantitative research were to:
1) empirically validate the qualitative research finding that content
users do not share a single definition of noncommercial use;
2) identify and compare content creators’ and content users’
understandings of noncommercial use; and
3) confirm and measure the relative importance of the factors
identified in the qualitative research that creators and users consider when
determining whether a use should be considered commercial or
noncommercial.
Additionally, the second phase of quantitative research explored users’
identification and behaviors as creators. Findings from both phases of research –
Phase 2 (creators) quantitative research and Phase 3 (users) quantitative
research – are presented in comparison below.
Creators and Users: Profiles
This section provides highlights of the profiling data collected, which overall
reveal that online U.S. creators and users are in many significant respects more
alike than different. Analysis of the data further reveals that with respect to their
understanding of the difference between commercial and noncommercial use,
there are few statistically significant differences between creators and users
across a number of key variables and between subgroups within each sample.38
38
Analysis of the quantitative data for the U.S. online population for this study included a comparison of
creators to users across all variables measured as well as subgroup analyses within each sample of
creators and users of:
• Age and gender
Defining Noncommercial 42
Overall, creators and users are more similar than different in profile and their
understandings of commercial and noncommercial use. Within each sample of
creators and users, creators and users younger than 30 tend to consider more
uses of content less commercial than do older users. But as noted throughout
discussion of the findings below, the most significant differences among
subgroups are those between creators who make money from their works and
those who do not, and users who make money from their uses of others’ works,
as opposed to those who do not.
Creating and Using
Over 8 in 10 of all creators and users generally consider themselves amateurs.39
Photos are by far the most common type of content created and used by each
group, among a wide variety of media including web-native content in the form of
blogs and podcasts. There are far more users of different types of content,
particularly images, videos, music and games, than there are creators of these
types of content.
• Community/industry category of works created or used (for example, education or entertainment)
• Media or content type created or used (for example, music or photos)
• Amateurs versus professionals
• Those who say they create or use copyrighted works, versus those who do not
• Users who also identify as creators
• Those who share their works online (including users who identify as creators)
• Those who make money from works they create (including users who identify as creators) or use,
versus those who do not
• Creators who make <$2000 annually from their works, versus those who make more/users who
make <$500 annually from use of others’ works, versus those who make more
• Those who have legal training, versus those who do not (for creators only)
Although the sample size for those who have legal training is quite small, this analysis was run in case
any consistent patterns could be noted, even if they are statistically insignificant. Little of note was found.
39
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 5.
Defining Noncommercial 43
Figure 3: Photos are the most common type of online content created, accessed, shared or used [Appendix 5.6, Slide
4]
Creators and users also relate to a broad range of community or industry
categories. “Entertainment” is chosen by most as the category that best
describes the majority of the works they create or use. The next most common
categories selected by creators are visual art, literature and education; users
select music, and education.
Figure 4: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 6]
Defining Noncommercial 44
Online Behaviors
Over 8 in 10 creators have shared their works online.40 Games and podcasts are
shared most frequently, followed by blogs, songs and music, images, and other
texts and writings.41 60% of creators have shared their photos, the most common
type of non-web-native content shared.42 Creators use a variety of means to
share their works online. Email is the most common (66%), but over half also
post to social networking websites, and about a third post to their own or
someone else’s blog, post to a website that hosts user-generated content, use an
email group or listserv, or share content via instant message or “chat” message.43
6% of creators use microblogging services such as Twitter to share works.44 Only
12% of creators share their works on peer-to-peer networks.45 6 in 10 creators
“always” or “usually” control who can access the content they share online.46
Photos are the most common type of work used, but almost half of all users have
also used video or film, texts or writing, games, songs or music, and images.47
Over one-third have used blogs and online ratings or reviews.48
Content users also use online content in a variety of ways.49 70% have
downloaded content just for themselves, while 46% have shared what they
downloaded with others.50 49% have posted or uploaded content created by
others to a blog or website.51 Others say they have made new works using
40
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 7.
41
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 8.
42
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 7.
43
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 9.
44
Id. Due to the high rate of adoption of microblogging, this percentage likely has grown since the survey
was fielded. In response to the survey fielded about 4 months later, users who also identify as creators
say they share their work in almost exactly the same way, though the percentage microblogging is greater
(15%). See Appendix 5.6, Slide 10.
45
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 9.
46
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 11.
47
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 12.
48
Id.
49
See Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q3. Respondents were asked if they had “used any online
content in any of the following ways,” and instructed to select all that applied from a list of answer choices
including “Accessed any online content (for example, have you viewed, read or listened to any online
content).” The fact that only 85% of respondents selected this answer suggests that even though
examples were provided, respondents may not have understood the use of “accessed” in this context.
50
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 13.
51
Id.
Defining Noncommercial 45
others’ content by incorporating it (13%), or changing or altering it (8%).52 8% say
they have remixed or mashed up content.53
Familiarity with Copyright and Licensing
Among profiling variables, only 1 in 5 creators say that any of the works they
have created in the last 12 months are copyrighted.54 As noted above,
respondents for Phase 2 (creators) were screened for entry into the study based
on their having selected one or more types of copyrightable content from a list
that was presented.55 Because U.S. law grants copyright upon creation in fixed
tangible form and no formalities are required to obtain copyright, the study
assumed that most content creators in fact do own copyrighted works, although
the study results show that many do not realize it. Meanwhile, nearly 8 in 10
content users say that none of the works they have used in the last 12 months
are copyrighted, or they are “not sure.”56 Here, the corollary assumption was
made that these users are unaware that they are using copyrighted works. These
findings suggest that the vast majority of both creators and users do not
understand the basics of copyright law.
52
Id.
53
Id. It is unknown what respondents are including in their definitions of “remix” or “mash-up” since other
independent categories were presented specifying use of others’ content to make a new work. See
Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q3. As discussed below, of those users who also identify
themselves as creators of content, or works using content created by someone else, 9% say they have
created mash-ups or remixes. See Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q6, and Appendix 5.6, Slide 14.
54
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 15.
55
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q3.
56
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 16. Younger users (ages 18-29), and those who use podcasts and
remixes/mash-ups are more likely to think the works they use are copyrighted.
Defining Noncommercial 46
Figure 5: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 17]
Only a few creators (about 1 in 10) have licensed their own work to others.57 Of
creators who share their works online, about 2 in 10 say they license their works
– 44% of them using a free public license available online, and 40% using a
license written specifically for the work.58
Nearly 7 in 10 users who say they have used copyrighted works in the past year
are able to state how the works were licensed, while the others either do not
know or are not sure, or say the works were not licensed or they did not seek or
acquire a license.59 37% of the works they used were licensed under a free public
license available online.60
Because of its importance to the development of public copyright licensing, the
study sought to determine whether there was awareness of the open source
software movement within the general population. While 56% of creators say
they are not at all familiar with the principles associated with the open source
software movement, 44% are at least “somewhat familiar,” with18% saying they
embrace them.61 Awareness of the open source software movement among
57
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 15.
58
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 18.
59
See Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q28, and Appendix 5.6, Slide 19.
60
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 19.
61
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 20.
Defining Noncommercial 47
users is almost identical, with most (59%) saying they are not at all familiar with
the principles and 18% saying they embrace them.62
Revenue Generation
Although most of the online population generally consider themselves amateurs,
creators say 14% of their works earn them money, and users say that 14% of the
uses they make of others’ works earn them money, as well.63 Among those who
earn money from works they create or use, creators earn an annual average of
$12,600, while users earn on average $19,600.64 Typically, however, creators
and users who earn money earn less than $500 a year.65
Users as Creators
As mentioned above, the Phase 3 (users) survey included additional questions
exploring users’ experience as creators. Only 29% of respondents in Phase 3
(users) of the survey identify themselves as “exclusively a user of works.”66 Over
4 in 10 users say they have created one or more types of content in the past
year.67 Approximately half of these “user-creators” say they have created photos,
approximately one-third have created text, blogs or images; approximately one-
quarter have created videos, films, songs or music.68 User-creators also
categorize their works in a variety of ways, primarily however as “entertainment,”
as did creators in Phase 2.
62
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 21.
63
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 22 and 23. While the question as framed for users in Phase 3, Q31, was
clear in its reference to money made from the use of others’ works (and this question followed Q30, also
framing the subject as use of others’ works), as fielded two of the answer choices presented to users for
Q31 referred to money made from “my work” rather than from “the use of others’ works.” In this context,
there is little reason to believe this minor design error caused confusion for respondents. See Appendix
5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q30 and Q31.
64
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 24. Respondents were asked how much money they earned on an annual
basis from works they created or used, whether the money was earned directly (for example, from the
sale of products, downloads, or merchandise, or by displaying or performing works at events); indirectly,
either from advertising that appears online around or in connection with works, or in other ways (for
example, through speaking fees); or a combination of both. See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire,
Q27, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q31.
65
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 25 and 26.
66
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 27.
67
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 28.
68
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 14.
Defining Noncommercial 48
Figure 6: Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 29]
Phase 3 (users) respondents were asked if they would use any of a number of
terms that had emerged during qualitative research to help describe their
involvement with the content they use and/or create. From the list of terms
presented, approximately one-third of respondents selected “sampler,” and 22%
selected “contributor.” The terms ”intermediary,” “remixer,” “mediator,”
“repurposer” and “curator” were each selected by 5-10% of respondents.69 This
finding further supports the view, expressed strongly during qualitative research,
that for many, there is not a strict dichotomy between creators and users.
Overall, the survey data reveal very little difference between the perspectives
users generally bring to the question of the distinction between commercial and
noncommercial use, and the way that user-creators see the question. There are
virtually no statistically significant responses between those who identify
exclusively or primarily as users, and users who also identify as creators.
Attribution
Because the importance of giving attribution or credit for use of content was
raised repeatedly in Phase 3 (users) focus groups, some questions on this
subject were presented in the Phase 3 (users) survey. The findings suggest
users are very supportive of giving attribution to the creators of the works they
69
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 27.
Defining Noncommercial 49
use.70 Over one-third (39%) say they "always" give attribution, even when not
required or requested, and more than a quarter (26%) say they “usually” do. Only
15% say they “rarely” or “never” give attribution. Furthermore, 61% say attribution
should “always” be given even if not requested or required, with another 30%
saying it should be given when requested or required. Thus, fully 91% of users
support attribution for creators. By contrast, a only 3% say attribution should
never be required and only 6% say they “don’t know.”
What Is Noncommercial Use? Unaided Understandings and Beliefs71
Survey responses reveal that creators and users take a similar approach when
asked to define the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use.
As discussed below, both groups believe that they can define the difference on
the basis of their existing knowledge, both groups believe that others understand
the difference the same way they do, and both groups are similarly divided as to
awareness of any law that may define the difference.
Commercial v. Noncommercial
In the quantitative surveys for both Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users), the
first mention of “noncommercial use” appears in an open-ended question asking
respondents how they would define the difference between a commercial use
and a noncommercial use of a work, in their own words and without consulting
other sources.72 Creators and users provided an answer in the same ratio –
approximately 7 in 10 from each group.
70
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 30.
71
The set of graphs representing the data drawn from the survey questions designed to elicit respondents’
unaided understandings of the difference between commercial and noncommercial use may be found at
Appendix 5.6, Slides 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.
72
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q12, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q15.
Defining Noncommercial 50
Figure 7: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide 36]
Responses to this open-ended request for a definition of the difference between
commercial and noncommercial use were coded in order to quantify them.73 A
large majority of both creators and users define a commercial use as one in
which money is made (73% of creators, 76% of users).74 Both also mention uses
in connection with advertising and uses in which the work would be distributed
publicly or widely. Neither group expresses a majority consensus on an
understanding of noncommercial use.75 However, the most common mention of a
noncommercial use by both creators and users is some use by an individual
(19% of creators, 33% of users), including personal and private uses.76 Those
73
Coding of the answers to the open-ended question was necessarily a subjective process. Although care
was exercised, these results cannot be considered scientific, and they are not represented as an attempt
to be exhaustive. The first step in the process of coding was to create a list of key words and themes. The
list included words and themes related to the anchor points tested in quantitative research, as well as
words and themes that seemed to recur with some frequency upon an initial review of the answers. The
answers were then searched for word matches and reviewed for expression of themes, and the results
tabulated.
74
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 37.
75
In their answers, both creators and users focus on commercial rather than noncommercial use. While it
is not known with certainty, some respondents may have thought that having given some definition of a
commercial use the inverse of that definition would be understood as noncommercial. For example, if a
respondent defined a commercial use as one that makes the user money, it may have been thought
implicit that a noncommercial use is one that does not make the user money.
76
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 38. Coding of the answers to open-ended questions was, again, necessarily a
subjective process. In this instance, coding combined instances where respondent actually used word
“individual,” and others where the wording was more in opposition to “wide distribution,” i.e. “limited
Defining Noncommercial 51
who provided an answer were then asked whether they think other people
understand the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use in
the same way they do. More than 7 in 10 creators and users said “yes.”77
Figure 8: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide 39]
Awareness of Law
Creators and users who provided an answer in response to the request for a
definition of the difference between commercial and noncommercial use are
similarly divided on their awareness of any law that defines such a difference.
Roughly one-third of each group said “yes,” another third said “no,” and a final
one-third replied “not sure.”78 When asked to describe it in their own words, of
creators who believe relevant law exists, “copyright law” was mentioned most
often, far fewer mentioned fair use, and fewer still referred to other law such as
the “Uniform Commercial Code.” Users replied similarly.79
distribution,” in which case it was given that code. The two-part working of the question made coding of
responses to this particular question challenging.
77
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 39. By contrast, most focus groups participants came to the groups already
aware of some debate or uncertainty about the definition of noncommercial use. It is believed that
everyone left with that awareness.
78
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 40 and 41.
79
Id. Fewer than 1 in 10 creators or users have any formal legal training. See Appendix 5.6, Slide 42.
Defining Noncommercial 52
Figure 9: Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide 43]
Gatekeeping Factors
Following the series of questions designed to elicit unaided definitions of
noncommercial use, creators and users were presented with a set of statements
describing certain distinct use scenarios, some of which were deliberately more
generic than others.80 These statements were randomly generated from the list of
16 scenarios below, which analysis of qualitative research suggested might
involve possible “gatekeeping factors,” that is, factors that some creators and
users might consider definitive for their determination of whether a use is
commercial or noncommercial. Only eight statements were provided to each
respondent in hope of partially mitigating survey fatigue.
80
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q16, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q19. The
scenarios were worded slightly differently for creators and users, and have been combined and
condensed here.
Defining Noncommercial 53
Possible Gatekeeping Factors
Money would be made directly from sale of a copy of the work
Money would be made from use of the work in some way
Money would be made from use of the work, but only enough to cover costs of copying and
distributing the work
No money would be made from use of the work
The work would be used online and advertising would appear around or in connection with it – and
money would be made from the ads
The work would be used online and advertising would appear around or in connection with it – and
enough money would be made from the ads to cover the cost of website hosting
The work would be used on a splog or “zombie website” that exists only to artificially generate traffic
and revenues from pay-per-click advertising
The work would be used by an individual
The work would be used by a not-for-profit organization81
The work would be used by a for-profit company
The work would be used by the government or a state-run entity
The work would be used by a for-profit company, but no money would be made from use of your
work
The work would be used for a charitable purpose, or to promote a public or social good
The work would be used for a purpose you find objectionable
Only a small part of the work would be used
The entire work or “the heart” of the work would be used
Table 4: Gatekeeping Factors.
Respondents were not presented with the notion of “gatekeeping” per se, but
were asked to consider the statements and indicate whether they thought the
proposed use would be “definitely a commercial use,” “definitely a
noncommercial use,” whether “it would depend,” or if they “don’t know.”
Findings from the gatekeeping exercise reveal that creators and users share
some strong opinions, as well as some uncertainties. The findings also
demonstrate that there are significant differences of opinion both within the
groups and between the groups.
81
The questions included this explanation: “By ‘not-for-profit organization’, we mean any organization that
exists primarily for some reason other than to make a profit. A religious organization, school or hospital
might be an example of a not-for-profit organization.”
Defining Noncommercial 54
Figure 10: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users (Gatekeeping Exercise) [Appendix 5.6, Slide 44]
Over 3 in 4 of both creators and users consider uses in connection with online
advertising, and uses from which money is made (either directly from a sale or
copy of the work or some other way), to be “definitely” commercial. More than 6
in 10 of both creators and users also consider uses in connection with online
advertising to be “definitely” commercial even if money made from the ads only
covers the cost of website hosting. Creators and users also share a similar view
of uses by a for-profit company and use of works on splogs or “zombie” websites,
with approximately 6 in 10 users and creators considering these uses “definitely
commercial.” A similar majority of creators and users (6 in 10) share the view that
uses where no money is made to be “definitely noncommercial.”
Users and creators show differences of opinion, however, around uses for cost
recovery, uses that are objectionable, uses for charitable purposes, and uses by
the government, by not-for-profit organizations, or by individuals. For all but one
of these “gatekeeping” factors, users are more inclined to consider these uses
“definitely” commercial, while creators express uncertainty or consider them
“definitely” noncommercial. One exception relates to uses by an individual. Here,
a majority of users (6 in 10) rate uses by an individual “definitely noncommercial”
Defining Noncommercial 55
while a similar percentage of creators express uncertainty, indicating they “can’t
say.”
Overall, users and creators share similar views for over half of the 16
gatekeeping factors measured. There is generally a greater level of consensus
among creators and users around uses considered “definitely” commercial. The
greater the uncertainty around a factor, the more likely differences of opinion
among creators and users are seen.
Anchor Point Exercise and Reactions to Specific Use Scenarios
Following the gatekeeping exercise, respondents were presented with an
allocation exercise designed to measure reaction to five basic use scenarios or
“anchor points” that qualitative research suggested would be useful starting
points for evaluation.
Respondents were told to assume this was all the information available for each
proposed use, and were alerted they would be presented with more specific use
scenarios to evaluate in subsequent questions. Each respondent was asked to
rate each of the five anchor points on a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 means
“definitely a noncommercial use” and 100 means “definitely a commercial use.”
While any number between 1 and 100 represents some hesitancy to rate a
particular anchor point as “definitely” a noncommercial or commercial use, very
low and very high scores represent a strong opinion by the respondent.
Figure 11: Initial Anchor Point Ratings by Creators and Users [Appendix 5.6, Slide 45]
Defining Noncommercial 56
The dots represent users’ mean score estimates for the initial five anchor points.
Confidence intervals (CI) for each mean rating were also analyzed to show the
reliability of the mean estimates. All other things being equal, a result with a
smaller CI is more reliable (representing more consensus of the mean estimate)
than a result with a larger CI. The CI for each mean estimate is presented in the
graph as the horizontal line bisecting the mean for every scenario.
Both creators and users gave very high mean scores to Anchor Point M (91.7
and 89.4, respectively) and Anchor Point A (82.6 and 84.6), indicating that they
evaluate as strongly commercial those uses where the user “makes money” or
the use is “in connection with online advertising,” respectively. Both creators and
users rate uses “for a charitable purpose to promote a social or public good”
(Anchor Point C) and “by an individual” (Anchor Point I) more noncommercial, as
well as rate uses by or on behalf of an organization (Anchor Point O) in the
midpoint. The only score under 25 was given by users to Anchor Point I (23.8
mean), indicating users evaluate “use by an individual” as more noncommercial.
Findings from the anchor point exercise reinforce findings from the previous
gatekeeping exercise. Specifically, both exercises show that uses that involve
making money and uses in connection with advertising are considered “definitely”
commercial by a high majority of both creators and users, whereas uses by
individuals, organizations and for charitable purposes are less commercial, but
not decidedly “noncommercial.” Also evident in the anchor point exercise is the
pattern seen in the gatekeeping exercise where there is greater agreement
between creators and users around uses that are more commercial, less
agreement around uses that are less commercial.
After rating the five anchor points, each respondent was presented with two
randomized sets of more specific use scenarios, each set containing a number of
variations on one anchor point. Specifically, respondents were told, “Below is
another group of statements, each of which includes some additional information
describing the proposed use of the work.” Respondents were also shown their
rating of the initial anchor point, and then asked to rate each scenario, again
using a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 means “definitely a noncommercial use” and
100 means “definitely a commercial use.” Half the respondents were presented
with the scenarios for Anchor Point M (use makes money), and the other half
were served the scenarios for Anchor Point A (use with advertising). The
scenarios for Anchor Point O (use by organization), Anchor Point I (use by
individual) and Anchor Point C (use for charitable purpose) were distributed
randomly.
Defining Noncommercial 57
The goal of this exercise was to collect data that would allow visibility into how
respondents changed their initial anchor point ratings as they encountered more
specific or nuanced use scenarios, some of them designed to overlap with other
anchor points. Breaks, if any, with the initial anchor rating and patterns across
the anchor points were sought.
Results for Anchor Point I (use by an individual) are reported first, and described
in some detail by way of explanation of how to read the data graphs prepared for
all the anchor point exercises. Highlights of those results are summarized in turn
below.
Use by an Individual
The figure below graphs the eight scenarios related to uses by individuals.
Figure 12: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to Uses by Individual [Appendix
5.6, Slide 46]
This graph shows that users rate uses by individuals that are private at
home/with friends most noncommercial of all the specific uses studied.
Compared to the initial anchor point rating, the mean score for this use is lower.
Also rated quite low, and very near the initial rating, is use by an amateur who
does not make a living from such uses. Looking at the rest of the data graphed
on this figure and the next figure below, however, when respondents receive
Defining Noncommercial 58
more information about other specific uses, the fact that the user is an individual
becomes less determinative of the rating for that specific use – all the other
scores are at least slightly higher and some are dramatically higher, meaning that
all other specific uses sampled are rated more commercial than the simple
unqualified “use by an individual” with which the exercise began.82
For example, if the individual in question is a competitor, or a professional using
the work in her/his professional context, users rate the use as strongly
commercial. However, if users know the professional makes no money from the
use, then the rating is significantly lower, though still more commercial than
noncommercial. Ratings also shift when money is not at issue, or at least not
obviously or certainly at issue: users rate a use slightly more commercial if an
individual shares a work on a website with restricted access, rather than on a
website that anyone can access, and sharing on a website with anyone the user
specifically allows is rated least commercial of all three uses. Although the
assumptions respondents made about these three types of access are unknown,
respondents respond differently to different fact patterns of use.
Users with different profiles also respond somewhat differently. For example,
users who earn money from use of others’ works rate both personal or private
uses by individuals and uses by amateurs as considerably more commercial (that
is, less noncommercial) than do users who do not earn money. Users who earn
money also rate uses by professionals less commercial.
Creators agree that personal or private uses are the least commercial of all
scenarios measured. Creators also agree that use by an amateur rates more
noncommercial.
Like users who make money from their use of works, creators who make money
from their works rate personal or private uses by individuals considerably more
commercial than do other creators.83 However, also like users who make money
from their use of works, creators who make money from their works generally
rate uses by professionals as less commercial than do creators who make less
money or no money from their works.84
82
Data for the other anchor point exercises in the study also show variations from the initial ratings: user
ratings for Anchor Point I (use by individual) include the most range of variation, for users. Creators’
ratings for Anchor Point I show more variation on either side of their initial mean rating.
83
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 47.
84
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 48.
Defining Noncommercial 59
Creators who make money also rate uses in which their work is shared online
more commercial than creators who make no money from their works.85 In this
regard, users who make money show no strong difference from other users.86
Many more points could be drawn out of the graphs that accompany this Report,
and the data itself could be worked and mined for still more. However, this
Report focuses only on the highlights that, with respect to “use by an individual,”
are clear: although the ratings are not identical, creators and users are in general
agreement about the specific uses studied. The one major exception is personal
or private use: while both groups rate it noncommercial, users do more strongly.
Making Money
The figure below provides a visual summary of the anchor point exercise
measuring responses to uses that make money.87
Figure 13: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to Uses Involving Money [Appendix
5.6, Slide 51]
85
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 47.
86
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 49 and Slide 50.
87
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q18A, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q21A.
Defining Noncommercial 60
Compared to the initial anchor point rating, respondents’ scores for specific uses
remain essentially unchanged: all scenarios are still rated “definitely commercial”
by the vast majority of creators and users. However, both groups rate uses less
commercial if the recipient of the money is a not-for-profit organization.
The scenario rated most commercial by all respondents is one in which the user
makes money from selling a copy of the work. Further, the scenario is rated
almost identically if the user only intends to make money from the sale. Both
creators and users also see very little difference between use of an entire work or
only a small part of a work in a profit-making venture.
On the question of making money for cost recovery, creators think covering
distribution costs only is slightly more commercial than covering operating costs,
or raising money for an endowment fund. Users tend to agree, but overall see
these uses as rather more commercial than creators. Note, however, that no
mention of advertising revenues was included in these scenarios (as discussed
below, even where uses in connection with advertising are for cost recovery they
are generally rated commercial).
Generally, uses that make money also are rated as less commercial both by
creators who make money from their works, compared to those who do not, and
users who make money from their use of works, compared to those who do not.88
This may parallel the finding noted above, that both creators and users who
make money rate uses by professionals less commercial than creators and users
who do not make money. Interestingly, creators and users rate also rate uses
that promote the user or user’s work as highly commercial.
Online Advertising
The figure below shows that creators and users generally share the same
opinion of uses in connection with online advertising.89
88
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 52 and Slide 53.
89
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q18B, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q21B.
Defining Noncommercial 61
Figure 14: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to Uses Involving Advertisements
[Appendix 5.6, Slide 54]
As with Anchor Point M, compared to the initial anchor point rating, respondents’
scores for specific uses in connection with online advertising remain essentially
unchanged: all scenarios are still rated “definitely commercial” by the vast
majority of creators and users, although users tend to view more uses as more
commercial than creators. Both groups rate use in connection with advertising
less commercial if the money generated goes to a not-for-profit organization –
though creators view this as much less commercial than users do.
Creators and users rate use in connection with advertising on a splog or on a
blog or web page where the user profits from the advertising virtually the same,
and as only slightly less commercial than the highest rated use, use as
advertising for another product (88.5 for creators, 87.1 for users). However, when
it is specified that the user would only make enough money from the advertising
to cover the costs of hosting the website, users rate the use as less commercial
(80.2), and creators rate it even lower (74.0) – but over half still rate the use
“definitely” commercial. Uses where the user does not make money from the
advertising are rated least commercial of all (57.2 and 64.2, for creators and
users, respectively).
Creators see use by posting on an aggregator website supported by advertising
as slightly less commercial than users do (75.9 for creators, 78.5 for users), but
again, over half of all respondents still rate this use as “definitely” commercial.
Defining Noncommercial 62
Creators and users each rate use of advertising revenue by a not-for-profit
organization to cover website hosting costs and operating costs almost the same,
though as stated above, creators find uses to support not-for-profits rather less
commercial than users do. Both groups also evaluate advertising by a for-profit
that then donates the money to a not-for-profit as being more commercial than
use by the not-for-profit on its own behalf.
Continuing a pattern noted above with respect to uses that make money (Anchor
Point M), uses involving advertising are generally rated less commercial by
creators who make money from their works and users who make money from
their use of works.90
Use by an Organization
As illustrated by the graph below, creators and users are in general agreement
about uses by an organization.91
Figure 15: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to Uses by Organization [Appendix
5.6, Slide 59]
90
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 55 and 56, and Slides 57 and 58. Creators who make more money are even
more inclined to rate these studied uses less commercial.
91
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q18D, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q21D.
Defining Noncommercial 63
Compared to the initial anchor point ratings, both creators and users rate the
specific uses studied more commercial if they are by for-profit organizations, with
high consensus. By contrast, if the use is by a not-for-profit, ratings are generally
the same, but consensus is lower. Notably, while many more respondents rate all
the studied uses by for-profits “definitely” commercial, some respondents rate
many uses by not-for-profits “definitely” commercial, as well: there is no “pass”
for not-for-profit organizations. This is confirmed by the findings of the Anchor
Point C exercise, discussed below, which show that even a use for an express
charitable purpose by a not-for-profit organization is rated “definitely”
noncommercial by only 13% of creators and 23% of users.
Creators view uses by specified not-for-profits as less commercial than users do
(ratings in the mid/high 50s and mid/high 60s, respectively). However, whether
the work is used to raise money for a not-for-profit’s operating expenses or its
endowment is of little consequence to either group.
The only ratings for use by an organization that are seen as more noncommercial
than commercial are specific to a use that suggests no money is exchanged: if a
school that does not charge tuition uses a work in its course materials then both
creators and users rate the use noncommercial, especially creators, although
consensus for both groups is low. By contrast, if a school charges tuition then
both groups increase their ratings, and creators do so significantly (from 33.5 to
56.3, as compared to a rise from 44.0 to 57.4 for users).
Note that the profit status of the school was not specified in these two uses.
However, when the school charges tuition creators rate the use almost exactly
the same as the specified not-for-profit uses (approximately 57); users rate the
use lower than for specified not-for-profits (67/57). As previously noted, the
gatekeeping factor exercise that appeared just before this one in the survey
defined a “not-for-profit organization” as “any organization that exists primarily to
make a profit,” and included a school as a possible example.92 It is likely that
respondents here assumed “school” to be a not-for-profit. As the next exercise
shows, use by for-profit and not-for-profit schools is rated differently in at least
one other context.
In this exercise both creators and users regard use by the government or a state-
run entity as commercial (ratings of 64.4 and 74.3, respectively), with only a few
respondents in each group rating such use as “definitely” noncommercial (4% of
creators, 9% of users). However, when this same scenario was presented to
respondents rating uses for a charitable purpose or to promote a social or public
good (discussed below), ratings by creators were somewhat lower (57.8), and
ratings by users were lower still (61.6).
92
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 60.
Defining Noncommercial 64
Use for a Charitable Purpose or Social Good
Of all the anchor points, respondents demonstrate lowest consensus on the
question of uses for a charitable purpose as is illustrated by the graph below.
Figure 16: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related to Uses with Charitable Purposes
[Appendix 5.6, Slide 61]
Respondents who were asked to rate specific uses for a charitable purpose or to
promote a social or public good generally rate uses by a not-for-profit
organization the same as their initial anchor point ratings. An exception, however,
is use by a not-for-profit for a purpose that the creator of the work finds
objectionable: both creators and users rate these uses as more commercial than
their initial anchor point ratings (43.7/34.1 creators, 59.6/45.0 for users) – highest
of all uses studied for not-for-profits. Further, both groups rate uses by a for-profit
company for a purpose the creator of the work finds objectionable the most
commercial of all scenarios (70.2 for creators, 73.9 for users). These findings
suggest that the question of “commerciality” may be complicated by other
considerations, but they appear to be considerations shared by creators and
users alike.
Scores greatly increase from the initial anchor point ratings, and more
respondents rate specific scenarios “definitely” commercial if the use is by a for-
Defining Noncommercial 65
profit company. This is true even in the case of use by schools, clearly positioned
for this exercise as use to promote a social good. Both creators and users rate
use for a fundraiser by a public not-for-profit school almost the same as the initial
anchor point rating, while both rate use for a fundraiser by a private for-profit
school much higher (59.4 for creators, 66.6 for users).
However, some uses by for-profits are rated as “definitely” noncommercial by 12-
20% of users and a smaller number of creators (4-8%). This finding, combined
with the finding already noted above that even use for an express charitable
purpose by a not-for-profit organization is rated “definitely” noncommercial by
only 13% of creators and 23% of users, reveals that this category of use is the
most difficult of those studied for both creators and users to sort out.
Summary of Anchor Point Exercise
The graph below plots the results for all specific use scenarios tested in the
anchor point exercise.
Figure 17: Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users (Anchor Point Exercise) [Appendix 5.6, Slide 62]
As the graph illustrates, almost all of the uses that involve money, online
advertising, and organizations are considered more commercial, while uses by
individuals and those for charitable purposes fall in between, with approximately
half rated more commercial and half rated more noncommercial. Creators and
users evaluate many of the scenarios studied similarly, not only in terms of the
Defining Noncommercial 66
“commerciality” of the use (how far to the left or right the icon appears) but also in
terms of the strength of consensus on the rating (the width of the horizontal lines
bisecting each mean). Users generally consider more of the uses studied slightly
more commercial than creators, with the exception of uses by individuals. In
these cases, creators tend to rate the uses more commercial and users less
commercial.
Changes to Unaided Understandings
Immediately following the anchor point exercise, respondents were asked:
“Having completed this exercise, would you change your definitions of
commercial use and/or noncommercial use?”93
After having rated two different sets of specific use scenarios, most creators
(73%) and users (75%) responded “no,” they would not change their initial,
unaided definitions of commercial and noncommercial use; 13% of creators and
11% of users replied “yes”; 14% of creators and 14% of users replied “Don’t
know/unsure.”94 Both groups answered “yes,” “no,” and “don’t know/not sure” in
virtually identical ratio, suggesting creators and users feel similarly strongly about
their initial definitions.
The responses to this open-ended question were coded using the same key
used to code the answers to the initial question asking about the difference
between commercial and noncommercial use. Creators and users who would
change their definitions are most likely to add mentions of uses by an individual
or organization as commercial.95 However, creators are also most likely to add
mentions of uses by an organization as noncommercial (users add a few as
well).96 Users are most likely to add mentions of uses for a charitable purpose or
social good as noncommercial, but some also add mentions of these uses as
commercial.97 Because the findings of the research overall are consistent, it is
reasonable to believe that respondents’ changes to their initial definitions – which
on gross may seem to cancel each other out somewhat – are a result of
respondents having been presented with more complexity or nuance than they
had in mind when giving their initial unaided definitions. Hence, these changes
may be more in the nature of refinements than re-definitions.
93
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q19, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q22.
94
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 63 and 64.
95
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 65, 66, and 67.
96
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 66 and 68.
97
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 67 and 68.
Defining Noncommercial 67
However, even if some 1 in 10 respondents had completely rewritten their initial
redefinitions, the most important takeaway from response to these two questions
is that most respondents, creators and users alike, do not readily change their
minds about what they believe is the difference between commercial and
noncommercial use, at least on the basis of their experience working through an
online survey.
Reaction to the Creative Commons NC Term
Of particular interest is respondents’ reaction to the verbatim language of the NC
term, which was presented without identifying it as such. Following the anchor
point exercise and the question asking whether respondents would then change
their previous definitions of the difference between commercial use and
noncommercial use, all respondents who provided a definition were asked:
“What if ‘noncommercial use’ meant any use that is not primarily intended
for, or directed toward, commercial advantage or private monetary
compensation? Do you think this definition is:
1. Essentially the same as your definition of noncommercial use
2. Different from but still compatible with your definition of
noncommercial use
3. Different from and incompatible with your definition of
noncommercial use
4. Don’t know/Not sure”98
The majority of respondents (87% of creators, 85% of users) replied that the
definition was “essentially the same as” (43% of creators, 42% of users), or
“different from but still compatible with” (44% of creators, 43% of users), their
definition. Only 7% of creators and 11% of users replied that the term was
“different from and incompatible with” their definition. 6% or creators and 4% of
users replied “don’t know/not sure.”99
98
See Appendix 5.4, Creators Questionnaire, Q21, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q24. As a
result of a programming error, the base of 801 content users who replied to the question asking for a
definition of commercial/noncommercial use was re-contacted. 66% responded and yielded the sample
n=532.
99
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 69 and 70.
Defining Noncommercial 68
Figure 18: Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term [Appendix 5.6, Slide 71]
In response to an open-ended question presented to those users who answered
that the definition was “incompatible” with theirs, the overwhelming majority takes
a hard line in defining commercial use as any monetary exchange, and thus
objects to use of the word “primarily”100 Use of the word “intended” was also
criticized as “too vague.”101 As noted above, these and other criticisms were also
raised by respondents in qualitative research.
3.3 Quantitative Research: Creative Commons Friends and Family
This section summarizes some of the highlights of the findings from the open
access polls of CCFF, described in Section 2.2 above. Again, the CCFF poll
data cannot be considered scientific because of the self-selected nature of the
samples, but they provide interesting counterpoints to the data collected from the
U.S. online population and suggest several avenues for further research, as
outlined in Section 4.3 below.
Unless called out, all comparisons below are made between CCFF creators and
users, as a group, and U.S. online population creators and users, as a group.
100
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 70, and Appendix 5.5, Users Questionnaire, Q25. This question was not
asked of creators in Phase 2.
101
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 70.
Defining Noncommercial 69
Much more data are available in the raw data referenced at the end of this
Report in Section 5.2.
Comparison to U.S. Online Population
Almost half of the CCFF sample in both polls is from the United States; the next
most represented countries include Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia and the Netherlands.102
Compared to the U.S. online population, CCFF are much more likely to be
familiar with copyright licensing and public copyright licenses, in particular. 74%
of CCFF creators have licensed the works that they share online, compared to
only 17% of U.S. creators.103 Of those who have licensed their works, 8 in 10
CCFF have used a free public license available online, compared to only 4 in 10
U.S. creators.104 CCFF users are also more likely than U.S. users to be aware of
how the copyrighted works they use are licensed (9 in 10, compared to 7 in
10).105
CCFF creators are far more likely than U.S. creators to allow greater access to
the works they share online (86% CCFF “always” or “usually” share with anyone,
as opposed to 39% of U.S. creators).106 Interestingly – though without assuming
a causal relationship with their sharing habits – virtually all CCFF creators are at
least somewhat familiar with the principles of the open source software
movement, with 80% saying they embrace them.107
Virtually all CCFF provided a definition of the difference between commercial use
and noncommercial use, as opposed to about 7 in 10 of the U.S. online general
population.108 While both groups define “commercial use” primarily as a use that
makes money, CCFF have a somewhat different understanding of when some
money may be made, in some cases.109
When presented with the gatekeeping factors, CCFF consider uses in connection
with online advertising and uses involving cost recovery less commercial than the
102
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 72 and 73.
103
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 74. More CCFF creators identified themselves as professionals. See
Appendix 5.6, Slide 75.
104
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 74.
105
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 19 and 77.
106
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 11 and 78.
107
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 79.
108
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 80 and 81.
109
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 82 and 83.
Defining Noncommercial 70
U.S. online population.110 In particular, CCFF are much less likely to think use in
connection with online advertising from which the user makes money is
“definitely” commercial, compared to the U.S. online population.111 Only 3 in 10
CCFF think it is “definitely” commercial if a work is used on a website that is
supported by advertising, compared to 6 in 10 of the U.S online population.112 By
contrast, CCFF are much more likely to consider use in connection with splog
advertising “definitely” commercial (85%, compared to 61%).113
With respect to cost recovery generally, only 30% of CCFF creators and 36% of
CCFF users say that making money by unspecified means from use of a work to
cover cost distribution costs is “definitely” commercial, compared to 47% of U.S.
online creators and 60% of U.S. users.114
The results of the anchor point exercise confirm these differences, and reveal a
few more. Ratings of CCFF and the U.S. online population are similar for all
scenarios in which the user would make money, except that CCFF tend to rate
uses less commercial where money is made for cost recovery or to support a
not-for-profit organization.115 CCFF also rate uses involving online advertising
less commercial, particularly if the money made goes to cost recovery or the
support of a not-for-profit organization.116
Uses by organizations also are rated less commercial by CCFF if the money is
used to support a school or not-for-profit organization.117 CCFF tend to rate use
by a government or state-run entity less commercial, as well.118
Overall, CCFF also rate all uses studied by individuals less commercial, unless
the user is a professional who makes money from the use.119 Like the U.S. online
population, CCFF rate personal and private use the least commercial of all
scenarios studied, and CCFF ratings are even lower than U.S. ratings, for both
creators and users. Further, unlike the U.S. online population, CCFF creators
and users are equally certain that personal or private use is “definitely”
110
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 84 and 85.
111
Id.
112
Id.
113
Id.
114
Id.
115
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 86 and 87.
116
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 88 and 89.
117
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 90 and 91.
118
Id.
119
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 92 and 93.
Defining Noncommercial 71
noncommercial – both rate this use an average of 8 on the 100-point scale
(where 1 is “definitely” noncommercial, 100 is “definitely” commercial), compared
to averages of 24 for U.S. creators, and 16 for U.S. users.120
Perception of Creative Commons and Reaction to the NC Term
The additional data provided by CCFF in response to a number of questions
specific to Creative Commons and its NC licenses show that the Creative
Commons BY-NC-SA license is the most popular of all the CC licenses, among
both CCFF creators and CCFF users. Almost half of CCFF creators have
licensed a work under BY-NC-SA, while 6 in 10 CCFF users have used a work
licensed BY-NC-SA.121
CCFF creators say they choose to license their work for noncommercial use
primarily because the NC term allows them to control the right to make money
from the work (70%), and they do not want anyone else to make money or get a
commercial advantage from the work (61%).122 Both CCFF creators and CCFF
users say they trust that Creative Commons licenses are legally enforceable
(63% of creators, 85% of users).123
When they use others’ works, 77% of CCFF believe it is safer to use a Creative
Commons NC-licensed work than an unlicensed one.124 90% of CCFF users also
say they like to use CC-licensed works, because they license their own works
under CC licenses.125
24% of CCFF creators and 27% of CCFF users say they have no dissatisfaction
with or concerns about the NC licenses.126 However, half of all CCFF users are
not sure that licensors understand the NC term the way they do, and over one-
fourth of creators and over one-third of users think the term is not defined in
enough detail and/or not defined clearly.127 4 in 10 CCFF creators are concerned
that licensees do not respect the NC term.128
120
Id. Ratings are 8.2 and 7.8 for CCFF creators and users, respectively – 24.3 for U.S. creators, and 16
for U.S. users.
121
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 94 and 95.
122
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 96.
123
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 96 and 97.
124
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 97.
125
Id.
126
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 98 and 99.
127
Id.
128
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 98.
Defining Noncommercial 72
Half of CCFF creators have been contacted by someone who wanted to know if a
certain use of one of their NC-licensed works would be acceptable to them.129 1
in 4 CCFF who have used a Creative Commons NC licensed work have
contacted the licensor to find out whether a certain use of the work would be
acceptable.130
CCFF creators are divided on whether they would support an effort to potentially
refine or redefine the Creative Commons NC term: 38% say they would support
an effort to consider a change; 36% say they would not support such an effort or
that such an effort is not necessary or desirable; and 25% are not sure.131 CCFF
users are also divided: 47% say they would support an effort to consider a
potential change; 35% say such an effort is not necessary or not desirable; and
18% are not sure.132
Only 13% of the CCFF creators and 20% of the CCFF users sample describe
themselves as active members of the CC community; about one-third of each
sample say they participate occasionally but do not consider themselves part of
the community.133 CCFF who say they are involved with the CC community
include newcomers as well as many people who have participated since the
organization was founded.134
3.4 Summary of Principal Findings
Empirical Study
Qualitative research suggests that creators and users take a similar approach
when addressing the issues that surround the definition of noncommercial use.
Overall, quantitative research supports qualitative findings – online U.S. creators
and users are more alike than different in their understanding of noncommercial
use. Both creators and users consider uses that involve money or online
advertising to be commercial in nature, and both groups are ambivalent, though
largely deeming less commercial uses by organizations, by individuals, and for
charitable purposes. Some differences are statistically significant between users
and creators, primarily for uses that are harder to classify as either commercial or
129
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 100.
130
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 101.
131
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 102.
132
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 103.
133
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 104 and 105.
134
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 106 and 107.
Defining Noncommercial 73
noncommercial. By contrast, uses that are decidedly commercial, such as uses
that earn money or uses by for-profit companies, show no significant difference
between creators and users. When statistically significant differences between
use scenarios appear users almost always rate those uses more commercial
than creators. The one exception is uses by individuals that are personal or
private in nature. Here it is creators, not users, who consider the use more
commercial, the opposite of the general pattern.
Few statistically significant differences exist among subgroups of creators within
that sample of respondents, and virtually no statistically significant differences
are found among subgroups of users, including users who also identify as
creators. The most notable differences among subgroups are between creators
who make money from their works and those who do not, and between users
who make money from their uses of others’ works and those who do not. In both
cases, those who make money generally rate uses less commercial than those
who do not make money. The one exception to this pattern is with respect to
personal or private uses by individuals: here, users who make money consider
these uses more commercial than those who do not make money.
On an unaided basis, when asked to define the difference between commercial
use and noncommercial use, both creators and users focus on the former. A
commercial use is defined by 7 in 10 of all respondents as a use that makes
money. On the same unaided basis, there is no majority consensus on the
definition of noncommercial use in either group, although both creators and users
include some use by an individual as the most common mention in their
definitions (19% of creators, 33% of users).
The gatekeeping and anchor point exercises validate respondents’ unaided
definitions while also providing some important qualifications and detail.
Specifically, creators and users generally consider uses that earn users money
or involve online advertising to be commercial in nature, while uses by
organizations, by individuals, or for charitable purposes are less commercial (but
not decidedly noncommercial) and harder to classify overall. Qualifiers, such as
whether the user is by a not-for-profit organization or for cost-recovery purposes,
bear an impact on how they are classified – in this case, typically making the use
less commercial. But perceptions of the many use cases measured in this study
suggests there is more uncertainty than clarity around whether uses of online
content are commercial or noncommercial in nature.
Following these exercises, 7 in 10 of all respondents chose not to change their
definitions of commercial and noncommercial use, a noteworthy fact given how
much these exercises had the potential of prompting a shift in views. Moreover,
when presented with the language of the Creative Commons NC term, the vast
Defining Noncommercial 74
majority believe it is “essentially the same as” or “compatible with” their definition
of noncommercial use. The Creative Commons NC prohibition on use of a work
“in any manner that is not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial
advantage or private monetary compensation” appears to resonate with a large
majority of creators and users because, based on open-ended responses along
with gatekeeping and anchor point exercises, most believe that no money can be
made if a use is to be considered noncommercial. Reluctance to change their
definitions and the appeal of the NC term may reflect a desire among creators
and users to simplify and anchor the definition around an understanding that “no
money” may be made.
Based on findings from the gatekeeping exercise (designed to establish whether
respondents would identify certain possible uses as “definitely” commercial or
“definitely” noncommercial), users and creators show strong agreement on most
issues.
More than a three-quarter majority of both groups agrees that it is “definitely” a
commercial use if money is made from the use of a work in some way, including
directly from the sale of a copy of a work, or from online advertising around or in
connection with the work, where the user makes money from the ads. Further, 6
in 10 of all respondents evaluate uses in connection with online advertising as
“definitely” commercial, even if only enough money would be made to cover the
cost of website hosting. More than 6 in 10 creators and users also consider use
by a not-for-profit organization “definitely” commercial.
Approximately 6 in 10 of all respondents also agree that a use is “definitely”
noncommercial when no money is made. The most significant difference
between the groups is that while more than 6 in 10 users consider use by an
individual to be “definitely” noncommercial, 5 in 10 creators think “it would
depend” or “can’t say.” Creators and users also differ on the general question of
cost recovery (not via means of online advertising), with more creators than
users inclined to consider cost recovery by unspecified means a noncommercial
use.
These findings are confirmed and refined in the anchor point exercise, which first
asked respondents to rate five basic anchor points describing uses in very
general terms, using a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 means “definitely a commercial
use” and 100 means “definitely a noncommercial use.” Using the same scale,
respondents were then asked to rate groups of more specific use scenarios
based on or related to the anchor points.
With respect to two of the five basic anchor points, uses where the user makes
money, and uses in connection with online advertising, the mean scores given by
Defining Noncommercial 75
creators and users are high and remarkably close: both groups are in strong
agreement that these are commercial uses. There is also a fairly high level of
consensus within and between each group around the specific use cases related
to these two anchor points. In fact, creators and users rate the studied uses that
make money and occur in connection with online advertising on almost the same
“curve” from most to least commercial.
Ratings for the other three anchor points remain closer to the middle of the scale,
meaning most users do not find them strongly commercial, or strongly
noncommercial. Uses that are less commercial, and also harder classify, also
show less agreement between creators and users. In other words, the more
commercial a use, the stronger the agreement; the less commercial the work the
higher the more creators and users differ in views with creators typically rating
uses even less commercial than users.
Creators and users are in general agreement that use by an organization tends
to be commercial, though to a lesser extent than users that involve money or are
in connection with advertising. When not-for-profit organizations are specified,
however, both groups tend to consider uses noncommercial. Again, uses
deemed less commercial also yield a greater difference between users and
creators with creators typically rating uses even less commercial than users.
Creators and users also tend to agree that use for a charitable purpose or to
promote a social or public good is noncommercial, unless the use is by a for-
profit organization. However, of all the specific use scenarios measured in this
study, both creators and users demonstrate the least amount of agreement on
this one. Not even charitable use by a not-for-profit organization is rated
“definitely” noncommercial by a majority of either group.
The single largest difference between creators and users is evidenced with
respect to use by an individual. Both groups rate more such uses as
noncommercial. However, users are much more likely than creators to rate
personal or private uses as noncommercial, and there is strong consensus
among users on this point. Thus this particular use scenario, at least as rated by
users, stands out from all the others as being the most ‘definitively’
noncommercial (although it is not unanimously “definitely” noncommercial).
Creators also agree that personal or private uses are the least commercial of all
scenarios measured, but it is striking to have this one instance in which users
believe the use is even less commercial than creators.
Defining Noncommercial 76
CCFF Survey
While findings from the open access poll of Creative Commons Friends and
Family are not scientific, the results of the CCFF surveys provide valuable
information about the attitudes and behaviors of the group.
CCFF are better versed with copyright licensing and public copyright licenses
than the U.S. population; three-fourths have licensed their works online using a
public license. CCFF allow broader access to the works they share online, as
well.
CCFF and the U.S. online population share essentially the same definition, as
one that makes the user of the work money, though with some differences. In
particular, when presented with the gatekeeping factors, CCFF consider uses in
connection with online advertising and uses involving costs recovery less
commercial than the U.S. online population. Only 30% believe it is “definitely”
commercial if a work is used on a website that is supported by advertising, half
as much as the U.S online population.
Ratings of CCFF and the U.S. online population are similar for all scenarios in
which the user would make money, except that CCFF tend to rate uses less
commercial where money is made for cost recovery or to support a not-for-profit
organization. CCFF also rate other specific uses where money is made as less
commercial than the U.S. population, including support for not-for-profits,
schools, and uses by a government or state-run entity.
Overall, CCFF also rate all uses studied by individuals less commercial unless
the user is a professional who makes money from the use. CCFF also rate
personal and private use the least commercial of all scenarios studied, although
the CCFF ratings are even lower than the U.S. population. Additionally, unlike the
U.S. online population, CCFF creators and users are equally certain that
personal or private use is “definitely” noncommercial.
Defining Noncommercial 77
4 Next
This study is the first known empirical investigation of perception of the meaning
of “noncommercial use.” As such it is best seen as a jumping off point for further
research rather than the end of the inquiry.
Previous sections of this Report have focused on the empirical results of this
study and the methodology used to obtain these results. This section takes a
different tack and includes in Section 4.1 and Section 4.2 a preliminary analysis
of what the study results mean for Creative Commons’ noncommercial licenses
and recommendations on use of those licenses, informed in part by the study
results. Finally, Section 4.3 provides some suggestions for further areas of
inquiries and contributions to the discussion of “noncommercial use” by academic
researchers and community members alike.
4.1 Import for Creative Commons Noncommercial Licenses
In the next years, possibly as soon as 2010, Creative Commons expects to
formally launch a multi-year, international process for producing the next
version135 (4.0) of the six main Creative Commons licenses.136 This process will
include examination of whether the NC term should be usefully modified as a part
of that effort, or if the better approach might be to adopt a “best practices”
approach of articulating the commercial/noncommercial distinction for certain
creator or user communities apart from the licenses themselves. Whichever the
result, this study has highlighted that in order to meet the expectations of
licensors using CC NC licenses it will be important to avoid any modification of
the term, however manifested, that makes a use widely agreed to be
commercial137 – or only agreed to be noncommercial with low consensus138 –
explicitly noncommercial. There is an analogue in CC’s statement of intent for CC
Attribution-ShareAlike,139 which provides assurances that CC will not break the
expectations of licensors whose intent is to release works under copyleft terms.
135
See http://wiki.creativecommons.org/License_versions for information on the development of previous
and future versions of the Creative Commons licenses.
136
See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ for a list of the six main Creative Commons licenses.
137
For example, most creators and users agree that online advertising is “definitely commercial” with a
high degree of consensus. See Appendix 5.6, Slides 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115, and
Figure 14, above.
138
The study results indicate, for example, that most uses for charitable purposes are rated
noncommercial, but with low consensus. See Figure 16, above.
139
Creative Commons Statement of Intent for Attribution-ShareAlike Licenses released, 2008, available at
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8213.
Defining Noncommercial 78
While the costs of license proliferation are already widely appreciated and
resisted by many, the study weighs against any lingering temptation to offer
multiple flavors of NC licenses due to strong agreement on the commerciality of
certain use cases that, in the past, may have been considered by some to be
good candidates for splitting off into specialized versions of the NC term, such as
online advertising. For even in those cases where strong agreement may appear
to exist upon initial inquiry, such as with online advertising, nuances and
sometimes strong differences of opinion are immediately revealed when more
specific use cases are tested and facts presented – such as those involving cost
recovery or support of nonprofit organizations.140
The study results also advise against any concerted effort by CC to attempt
appeasing all license users, all the time. The qualitative study results reported in
Section 2.1 above support this conclusion. Participants are divided over the
value of more or fewer specific “use cases” to delineate the
commercial/noncommercial divide, some see the lack of specific uses as a
strength and others as a weakness, and many others still disagree with the
notion that a single definition of noncommercial use could be workable. Thus is
the challenge, and opportunity, of public license stewards.141
Aside from decisions about the NC licenses themselves, Creative Commons will
be looking back to the study as it updates explanations of noncommercial
licensing on CC’s license deeds,142 the license chooser143 and other materials.
CC encourages ideas and feedback from the public (see Section 4.3, below).
4.2 Recommendations on Using CC Noncommercial Licenses
Overall, the CC NC licenses appear to be working rather well — they are the
most popular144 Creative Commons licenses, and CC is not aware of a large
number of disputes between licensors and licensees over the meaning of the NC
term. The study hints at some of the potential reasons for this state of affairs,
including that users are in some cases more conservative in their interpretation of
what is noncommercial than are creators,145 and that in some cases creators who
earn more money from their work (i.e., have more reason to dispute questionable
140
See Appendix 5.6, Slide 54. See also Appendix 5.6, Slide 51 on cost recovery but in the context of
“making money.”
141
Public license stewardship is addressed in Wikipedia licensing Q&A posted, 2008, available at
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/11544.
142
See e.g., the deed for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license,
available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/.
143
The Creative Commons license chooser is available at http://creativecommons.org/choose.
144
See http://wiki.creativecommons.org/License_statistics for breakdowns of license adoption.
145
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 44, 45, 46, 59, 61, and 62.
Defining Noncommercial 79
uses) are more liberal in their interpretation of what is noncommercial than are
those who earn less.146
While it would take a more focused and exhaustive study to conclude that these
seemingly fortunate attitudinal differences are correct, strong, and global, they do
suggest rules of thumb for licensors releasing works under NC licenses and
licensees using works released under NC licenses — that licensors should
expect some uses of their works that would not meet the most stringently
conservative definition of noncommercial, and licensees who are uncertain of
whether their use is noncommercial should find a work to use that
unambiguously allows commercial use (e.g., licensed under CC BY, CC BY-SA,
or in the public domain), or ask the licensor for specific permission.147 Note that
this rule of thumb has an analogue in network protocol design and
implementation known as the robustness principle or Postel’s Law: “Be
conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.”148
Relatedly, the study serves as a reminder to would-be users of the NC licenses
the need for considering carefully the potential societal costs of a decision to
restrict commercial use. One way to think about Creative Commons generally is
as a provider of legal and technical tools that prevent (where desired) the failed
sharing149 that results from copyright law’s default of “all rights reserved.” There
exist certain uses that some creators would allow but that will not occur because
they have not authorized them (maybe have not even thought of them), and the
costs of finding the licensors and getting authorization are too high for the
intended use.150 While this may sound overly hypothetical, if one considers the
anti-network effects of failed sharing at a societal level, the costs are large
indeed. Overuse of NC licenses suppresses some uses that a licensor who
wants to share may wish to allow, at a cost to NC licensors and licensees and an
even greater cost to communities and the broader free culture movement. Such
situations represent failed sharing, though on a much smaller scale than the
failed sharing engendered by default copyright. As another rule of thumb,
licensors who are concerned about the costs of NC licensing – whether to
146
See Appendix 5.6, Slides 47, 48, 52, 55, 56, 116, 117, 118, and 119.
147
Interestingly, about half of respondents to the Creative Commons Friends and Family questionnaire
who had licensed works under a NC license indicated that they had been contacted for specific
permission. See Appendix 5.6, Slide 100. Approximately 25% of CCFF sampled who use NC-licensed
works say they have contacted a licensor to see if a use was permissible. See Appendix 5.6, Slide 101.
148
See Internet Experiment Note 111, Internet Protocol, 1979, available at
http://www.postel.org/ien/txt/ien111.txt and further discussion at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle.
149
James Boyle. The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind, page 182. Yale University
Press, 2008.
150
Or perhaps the creator is dead and even scholarly use of the work is suppressed by the creator’s
estate. See, e.g., D.T. Max. The Injustice Collector: Is James Joyce’s grandson suppressing scholarship?,
The New Yorker, 2006, available at http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/06/19/060619fa_fact.
Defining Noncommercial 80
themselves, the free culture movement, or society at large – ought review the
arguments and consider “dropping -NC” from their licenses whenever the costs
cannot be fairly justified.151
The potential negative impact and corresponding lack of use of noncommercial
licensing differs across fields. For example, noncommercial licenses152 do not
exist at all in the free and open source software world (note that CC recommends
using a free and open source software license for software). Science153 and
education154 are two large fields in which Creative Commons believes that liberal
licensing or the public domain are most critical. Unsurprisingly Wikipedia, which
has strong relationships with the free software, open access (scientific
publishing), and open education movements, mandates liberal licensing, and
many other massively collaborative projects are following.155
However, compelling use cases for NC licensing remain — most obviously when
an existing significant revenue stream from a work would be compromised by
release under liberal terms. Giving one’s audience legal certainty that they will
not be prosecuted for doing what comes naturally from using digital networks —
copying and remixing for no commercial gain or monetary exchange — while
exploring the sharing economy and still protecting existing business — these are
compelling reasons to start or continue releasing works under a NC license. It is
little surprise that major music and book publishers’ use of CC licensing thus far
has almost exclusively been of the NC variety.
In sum, although the results offer only the first views on a complex issue, the
study provides immediately relevant guidance on several levels. For Creative
Commons, the study affirms that the NC licenses are generally “on track” given
the large percentage of people who understand the NC term to be defined as the
same or consistent with their own understandings and definitions. Yet the study
151
The Definition of Free Cultural Works website includes an article summarizing reasons to avoid NC
licenses, available at http://freedomdefined.org/Licenses/NC. See also Approved for Free Cultural Works,
2008, available at http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8051, concerning the relationship of CC’s less
restrictive licenses to the Definition.
152
The Free Software Foundation addresses the non-role of noncommercial licensing for free software in
Categories of Free and Non-Free Software available at
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#semi-freeSoftware.
153
See e.g., the Budapest Open Access Initiative available at
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml, which states “The only constraint on reproduction and
distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the
integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.”
154
Creative Commons addresses the need for less restrictive licensing in the context of education in
Increase Funding Impact Recommendations for Organizations that Fund the Production of Open
Educational Resources (OER) available at http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-
content/uploads/2009/07/cclearn-recommendations-increase-funding-impact-05-apr-09.pdf.
155
Wikipedia + CC BY-SA = Free Culture Win!, 2009, available at
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15411.
Defining Noncommercial 81
also makes clear there remains room for thoughtful evaluation and discussion
about how CC might improve the definition yet further and/or forge and
communicate a more fully shared understanding about its meaning – though
never in a manner that risks breaking existing expectations of license users. For
licensors and licensees, the study suggests rules of thumb for what licensors
may expect when publishing under a noncommercial license, and how licensees
ought consider behaving when using NC-licensed materials (including, at times,
instead choosing a work that may be used commercially). Finally, the overall
process of conducting the study and considering the points of view expressed in
all phases point to a critical need for a richer understanding of the societal costs
associated with choosing a noncommercial licensing option in the absence of a
compelling justification to the contrary.
4.3 Further Research
The findings from this study suggest many possible areas for further research.
First, this study points out one use scenario that users consider less commercial
than creators – that regarding the noncommerciality of personal or private use.
Subsequent research could investigate the basis for this difference, including
whether this difference is a cause or effect of the “copy fights,” beginning with
Napster156 over file sharing in which no money changes hands.
Another area for additional research derives from the reality that the empirical
research in this study was limited to the U.S. online population. This research
project, or its relevant parts, could be replicated in other jurisdictions. It would be
particularly interesting to know whether and how attitudes toward noncommercial
use correlate with the variations in license adoption patterns observed across
jurisdictions with “ported” licenses.157 Data from this study could also be used to
inform models of license adoption158 and rules for economics laboratory
experiments. Relatedly, the (non-random) qualitative research performed in both
Phase 2 (creators) and Phase 3 (users) was used primarily to inform
development of the questionnaires underlying the empirical analysis. That data,
together with the (non-random) CCFF data, deserve further analysis in their own
right. For example, the data could be analyzed for hints as to whether significant
156
The Napster decision is discussed briefly in Section 1.2, above.
157
Giorgos Cheliotis, Warren Chik, Ankit Guglani and Giri. Tayi, Taking Stock of the Creative Commons
Experiment: Monitoring the Use of Creative Commons Licenses and Evaluating Its Implications for the
Future of Creative Commons and for Copyright Law, 35th Research Conference on Communication,
Information and Internet Policy (TPRC), at the National Center for Technology & Law, George Mason
University School of Law, Sep 28-30 2007,
http://web.si.umich.edu/tprc/papers/2007/805/CreateCommExp.pdf.
158
Zachary Katz, Pitfalls of open licensing: An analysis of Creative Commons licensing, IDEA: The
Intellectual Property Law Review, 46, 391–413 (2006), http://www.piercelaw.edu/assets/pdf/idea-vol46-
no3-katz.pdf.
Defining Noncommercial 82
variations in understanding of noncommercial use exist across jurisdictions or
regions.
Further research on the meaning of noncommercial could also be bounded not
just by geography, but by specific communities and classes, e.g., collecting
society members, lawyers, humanities scholars, remixers, and file sharers. As
indicated in Section 2 of this Report, the original vision for the study included a
more in-depth exploration of the different perceptions and understandings of
various content communities. However, it was concluded that individual, separate
studies devoted to particular content communities and industries should be
conducted if the research were to provide meaningful results, which CC’s
resources did not permit. Studies of the variations between and within different
content communities could add valuably to the understandings of licensor and
licensee expectations regarding noncommercial use of content found online.
Another potentially valuable area of research would be the gathering of field data
on the use and impact of using NC licenses, non NC licenses, or no licenses,
supported by further research into how understandings of and attitudes toward
noncommercial use affect the use of each licensing strategy. This might include
attempting to measure empirically the non monetary, societal benefits of allowing
commercial, as opposed to noncommercial, uses of works, such as in the
educational and scientific arenas, and conversely, the adverse consequences or
missed opportunities that result from use of a NC license in those same arenas
and others.
Finally, similar research could be conducted as to understandings of other key
CC license terms – attribution, derivative use, and “share alike” derivative use –
as well as other key legal and normative concepts that help shape the digital
economy, including understandings of copyright, fair use, and the public domain.
4.4 How to Participate in the Discussion
In addition to using and citing this Report in academic contexts (see Section 5.1)
there are a variety of ways those who are interested can participate in discussion
of this study, the future of CC NC licenses and accompanying material, and
future research on this and other topics related to voluntary sharing:
• Leave a comment on the blog post announcing the publication of
this Report.159
• Add to the “talk page” corresponding to the study’s home on the
Creative Commons Wiki.160
159
Defining Noncommercial report published, 2009, available at
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/17127.
Defining Noncommercial 83
• Discuss on the CC Forum161 or cc-community mailing list.162
• Subscribe to the very low volume cc-licenses mailing list163 to be
alerted when the 4.0 process commences and contribute to the
discussion.
• Join the commons-research list164 to connect with researchers
studying free culture topics.
• Send a comment to noncommercial@creativecommons.org.
160
Find the Defining Noncommercial home page at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial.
161
Find the CC Forum at http://forum.creativecommons.org.
162
Find the CC Community email list at http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-community.
163
Find the CC Licenses email list at http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses.
164
Find the Commons Research email list at http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-research.
Defining Noncommercial 84
5 Appendix
5.1 Using and Citing the Report and Appendix
This appendix includes the supplementary materials referenced in the narrative
above. As with the Report itself, Creative Commons has released these materials
under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You are free to use them in any
way, so long as you give attribution to Creative Commons with a link to
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial, for any use beyond
those permitted by fair use or other copyright exceptions and limitations.
If you want to cite to the Report or the appendix materials, below are some
citation forms that may be useful:
Suggested citation for Report:
Creative Commons, Defining “Noncommercial”: A Study of How the
Online Population Understands “Noncommercial Use” (September 2009),
available at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial.
Suggested citation for appendix materials:
Creative Commons, Defining “Noncommercial”: A Study of How the
Online Population Understands “Noncommercial Use” (September 2009),
Appendix 5, available at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial.
5.2 Using and Citing the Data
To aid analysis of the quantitative data, “banner books” were created for each
phase of research. These banner books provide a top-level analysis of certain
key data points. Files containing the banner books and the raw data from which
the banner books were created, excluding the answers to open-ended questions
in order to protect individual’s privacy, are available at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial.
Other than the answers to the open-ended questions, Creative Commons has
released all the quantitative data collected for the study under the CC0 copyright
waiver, to ensure the data are known to be in the public domain and entirely free
to all, for all uses, with no legal restrictions.165 There is no legal obligation to
attribute the source of any data or content marked with CC0. However, since
sourcing data are the research norm, below is a preferred citation form:
165
For further explanation of CC0, visit http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0.
Defining Noncommercial 85
Suggested citation for data:
Creative Commons, Defining “Noncommercial” Study Data (September
2009), available at from
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial.
5.3 Creative Commons BY-NC License and Commons Deed
The following pages contain the text of the BY-NC 3.0 Unported license, and an
image of the associated Commons Deed.
Defining Noncommercial 86
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CREATIVE COMMONS MAKES NO WARRANTIES REGARDING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED,
AND DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ITS USE.
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COMMONS PUBLIC LICENSE ("CCPL" OR "LICENSE"). THE WORK IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
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Defining Noncommercial 89
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Defining Noncommercial 91
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported
Commons Deed
Defining Noncommercial 92
5.4 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Creators
The following pages contain the master version of the study questionnaire fielded
in Phase 2 (creators) of empirical research.
Defining Noncommercial 93
Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Creators
NOTE: This is the master version of the questionnaire prepared for the online
quantitative survey of the general U.S. Internet population and the Creative Commons
“Friends and Family” (“CCFF”) open access poll, both fielded in December 2008.
Questionnaire headings, programming instructions and question numbers were not
visible to respondents. Questions presented to CCFF only are indicated by ***. For ease
of reading, most of the CCFF-only questions are grouped at the end of this document.
As indicated, these questions appeared in slightly different order when the poll was
fielded.
SCREENER QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION: Thank you for taking this survey. We appreciate your time and consideration.
Please be aware that depending on your response, the survey could take
anywhere from 15 - 25 minutes to complete. Also, please note that once you
click the "continue" button on any page of the survey, you will not be able to
return to previous pages
Q1. First, please indicate your age:
1. Under 18
2. 18-24
3. 25-29
4. 30-34
5. 35-39
6. 40-44
7. 45-49
8. 50-54
9. 55+
TERMINATE CODE 1 AFTER Q2
Q2. Please indicate your gender:
10. Male
11. Female
TERMINATE IF CODE 1 AT S1
Q3. In the last 12 months, have you created any of the following types of works or content? Please select
all that apply.
RANDOMIZE
1. Videos or films
2. Songs or instrumental music
3. Photos
4. Texts or writings (for example, stories, poems, articles)
5. Images (for example, paintings, drawings, flash animations)
6. Podcasts
7. Blogs, online journals or blog postings
8. Mash-ups or remixes (works that are created by combining other pre-existing works)
9. Online ratings or reviews of others’ works (for example, movie or music reviews)
Defining Noncommercial 94
10. Games
11. Other, please specify
12. None of the above
TERMINATE IF CODE 11 (NONE OF THE ABOVE) AT Q3, OR ONLY CODE 10 (“OTHER”)
BASE: All Respondents
SCREEN-OUT MESSAGE: Thank you for participating in our survey today. Unfortunately, your profile
does not correspond to the one we were looking for in this study.
Thanks again!
GENERAL ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS REGARDING SHARING ONLINE
BASE: All Respondents
Q4. Do you generally consider yourself an amateur or professional creator?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Amateur
2. Professional
3. Both or neither, please explain
ERROR MESSAGE: “Please explain your answer.”
BASE: Created non-web-native works (Codes 1-5, 10) at Q3
Q5. From this point forward, we will use “work” and “works” to refer to any works
or content you have created.
Have you shared any of the following works online? That is, have you distributed
any of the following works using the Internet, by posting to a website, blog, or
microblog, or using email, IM, or a peer-to-peer (P2P) network?
Select all that apply.
PIPE THOSE FROM Q1 THAT ARE NOT WEB-NATIVE (CODES 1-5, 10)
COLUMN HEADER: “SHARED ONLINE”
SHOW IN SAME ORDER AS PRESENTED IN Q3
INCLUDE NONE OF THE ABOVE
DO NOT PIPE “OTHER SPECIFIES”
BASE: Share Works Online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or at least one at Q5)
Q6. Approximately how often do you share each type of work online?
Please select one in each row.
DAILY OR 2 TO 3 ABOUT ABOUT
SEVERAL TIMES A ONCE A ONCE A ABOUT ABOUT
TIMES A WEEK WEEK MONTH ONCE ONCE
DAY EVERY 3 EVERY 6
Defining Noncommercial 95
TO 5 MONTHS
MONTHS TO A
YEAR
PIPE ALL
SELECTS AT
Q5 AND ANY
CODES 6-9
AT Q3
SHOW IN
SAME
ORDER AS
Q3
BASE: Share Works Online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or at least one at Q5)
Q7. When you share your works online, how do you typically do that?
Please think of all the different types of works you create when answering this
question.
Select all that apply.
RANDOMIZE
1. Post to my own blog or website
2. Post to a blog or website run by someone else
3. Post to a website that hosts a variety of user-generated content, such as Flickr or
YouTube
4. Post to a social networking website, such as Facebook or MySpace
5. Share via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network
6. Send via email, in the email itself, or as an attachment or in a link
7. Send via an email group or listserv, in the email itself, or as an attachment, or in a link
8. Send via an instant message or "chat" message, in the message itself, or as a link
9. Send via micro-blog, such as Twitter
10. Other, please specify
BASE: Share Works Online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or at least one at Q5)
Q8. When you share your works online, approximately how many people do you
typically reach?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Less than 5 people
2. 5 to 9
3. 10-29
4. 30-49
5. 50-99
6. 100-199
7. 200-499
Defining Noncommercial 96
8. 500-999
9. 1000 or more people
BASE: Share Works Online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or at least one at Q5)
Q9. Which of the following best describes how, if at all, you control who can
access your works when you share them online?
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Always control who can access my works (for example, only family and
friends)
2. Usually control who can access
3. Usually share with anyone (that is, allow public access)
4. Always share with anyone
BASE: Share Works Online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or at least one at Q5)
Q10. Why do you share the works you create online?
Rate each of the following reasons on the 7-point scale below where “7” means “Strongly Agree” and “1”
means “Strongly Disagree.”
If you can’t say or a reason does not apply to your works, select the last column (“Can’t Say/Not
Applicable”).
Select one in each row.
RANDOMIZE STRONGLY
STRONGLY DISAGREE CAN’T SAY/
AGREE NOT
APPLICABLE
7 6 3
5 4 2 1
1. I want to generate
awareness and
interest in my works
2. It may increase the
value of my work(s)
3. I want to influence
others’ opinions
4. I want to share my
knowledge or
expertise on certain
subjects
5. I enjoy sharing my
works with others
6. I want to engage
with a community of
colleagues or others
Defining Noncommercial 97
interested in my
works or the subject
of my works
7. I take pride in my
works and want
others to use them
8. I want to expand my
network of friends
and/or social
contacts
9. I want to expand my
network of
professional
contacts
10. I want to boost my
reputation
11. I need a place to
store them
12. I want to reciprocate
with others who
share their works
online
13. I am experimenting,
and curious to see
what happens
BASE: All respondents
Q11. [IF SHARE WORKS ONLINE (CODES 6-9 AT Q3 OR AT LEAST ONE AT Q5)] Do you have any
concerns about sharing your works online? Rate each of the following potential concerns on the 7-point
scale below where “7” means “Strongly Agree” and “1” means “Strongly Disagree.”
Select one in each row.
If you can’t say or a reason does not apply to your works, select the last column (“Can’t Say/Not
Applicable”).
[IF DO NOT SHARE ONLINE (NO CODES 6-9 AT Q3 AND NO SELECTS AT Q5)] You indicated that
you do not share your works online. Why don’t you share online? Rate each of the following reasons on
the 7-point scale below where “7” means “Strongly Agree” and “1” means “Strongly Disagree.”
Select one in each row.
If you can’t say or a reason does not apply to your works, select the last column (“Can’t Say/Not
Applicable”).
RANDOMIZE STRONGLY STRONGLY CAN’T SAY/
AGREE DISAGREE NOT
APPLICABLE
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1. My works could be
used for some
purpose I find
Defining Noncommercial 98
objectionable (for
example,
pornography or
political
propaganda)
2. Someone may
disapprove or
criticize of my works
3. I consider public
sharing a violation
of my privacy
4. An individual or
organization could
derive financial gain
from my work
without sharing the
profits with me
5. It may cause the
value of my other
works to decline
6. My competitors
might find out what I
am producing
7. The overall market
for the kinds of
works I produce
could decline
8. It takes too much
time/effort to share
my works online
9. I don’t know how to
share my works
online
COMMERCIAL USE V. NONCOMMERCIAL USE
BASE: All respondents
Q12. Imagine someone approached you about using one of your works, and asked if you would allow
both commercial use and noncommercial use of your work. Would you understand the question? We
would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of your work and a
“noncommercial use” of your work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
Please do not consult other sources to answer this question! We want to know
what you think the difference is between commercial use and noncommercial use
– in your own words, at this moment.
If you cannot define the difference, check the box labeled “Don’t Know” below.
OPEN END TEXT FIELD LABELED “Type in your definition”
INCLUDE CHECK BOX: “DON’T KNOW”
Defining Noncommercial 99
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q12)
Q13. Do you think other people understand the difference between commercial use and noncommercial
use in the same way you do?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes
2. Yes, most do
3. Yes, many do
4. Yes, some do
5. No, many do not
6. No, most do not
7. No
8. Not sure
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q12)
Q14. Are you aware of any law that defines a difference between commercial use and noncommercial
use?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes
2. No
3. Not sure
BASE: Aware of law (Code 1 at Q14)
Q15. Please describe, in your own words, the law that defines commercial use and noncommercial use.
OPEN TEXT FIELD LABELED “Be as specific as possible”
BASE: All CCFF respondents
***Q15A. Please select your legal jurisdiction from the drop-down list of countries below.
DROP-DOWN MENU OF ALL COUNTRIES
GATEKEEPING EXERCISE
BASE: All respondents
Q16. Continue to imagine someone approaching you about using one of your works. Each of the
statements below describes a potential type of user or use of your work.
For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be
definitely a commercial use or definitely a noncommercial use.
If it would depend or can’t say, select the third column for that row.
If you don’t know, select the last column for that row.
Please complete the exercise to the best of your ability, based on what you think the difference is
between commercial use and noncommercial use. Again, please do not consult other sources.
Some statements refer to a “not-for-profit organization”. By “not-for-profit organization”, we mean any
organization that exists primarily for some reason other than to make a profit. A religious organization,
school or hospital might be an example of a not-for-profit organization.
Select one in each row.
PIPE RANDOM GROUP OF EIGHT STATEMENTS PER EACH RESPONDENTS FROM THE LIST
Defining Noncommercial 100
BELOW (TOTAL N=~500 FOR EACH RESPONDENT)
RANDOMIZE DEFINITELY A DEFINITELY A IT WOULD
SHOW TOTAL OF COMMERCIAL NONCOMMERCIAL DEPEND/ DON’T
EIGHT (8) USE USE CAN’T SAY KNO
STATEMENTS W
1. Money would
be made
directly from
the sale of a
copy of your
work
2. Money would
be made from
the use of your
work in some
way
3. Money would
be made from
the use of your
work, but only
enough to
cover costs of
copying and
distributing the
work
4. No money
would be made
from the use of
your work
5. Your work
would be used
online and
advertising
would appear
around or in
connection
with it – and
the user would
make money
from the ads
6. Your work
would be used
online and
advertising
would appear
around or in
connection
with it – and
the user would
make money
from the ads,
but only
enough to
cover the cost
of hosting the
Defining Noncommercial 101
website
7. Your work
would be used
on a splog or
“zombie
website” that
exists only to
artificially
generate traffic
and revenues
from pay-per-
click
advertising
8. Your work
would be used
by an
individual
9. Your work
would be used
by a not-for-
profit
organization
10. Your work
would be used
by a for-profit
company
11. "Your work
would be used
by the
government or
a state-run
entity"
12. Your work
would be used
by a for-profit
company, but
no money
would be made
from the use of
your work
13. Your work
would be used
for a charitable
purpose, or to
promote a
public or social
good
14. Your work
would be used
for a purpose
you find
objectionable
15. Only a small
Defining Noncommercial 102
ANCHOR POINT ALLOCATION EXERCISE
BASE: All respondents
Q17. Now we’d like to ask you to evaluate some similar statements about how, or by whom, one of your
works might be used. This time, we would like you to enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where:
100 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Commercial Use”
and
1 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Please read each statement and then enter a number in the space provided. Assume this is all the
information available. (In the next phase of this exercise, you will be presented with more information.)
Please complete the exercise to the best of your ability, based on what you think the difference is
between commercial use and noncommercial use.
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
“Don’t Know/Can’t Say.”
Enter a whole number.
GRID WITH 2 COLUMNS:
COLUMN ONE (SEE BELOW): OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS, WHOLE NUMBERS ONLY
BETWEEN 1 AND 100
COLUMN TWO (SEE BELOW): CHECK BOXES.
FOR EACH ANSWER CHOICE, RESPONDENTS MUST ENTER WHOLE NUMBER IN
COLUMN ONE OR CHECK BOX IN COLUMN 2
RANDOMIZE ENTER A WHOLE NUMBER FROM 100 =
“DEFINITELY A COMMERCIAL USE” TO 1 = DON’T KNOW/
“DEFINITELY A NONCOMMERCIAL USE” CAN’T SAY
1. The user would make
money from the use of your
work
2. Your work would be used
online and advertisements
would appear around or in
connection with it
3. Your work would be used
by an individual
4. Your work would be used
by an organization
5. Your work would be used
for a charitable purpose or
to promote a social or public
good
EVERY RESPONDENT WILL RATE TWO DRILL-DOWNS:
HALF OF RESPONDENTS WILL RATE Q18A (MAKE MONEY FROM USE OF WORK)
Defining Noncommercial 103
OTHER HALF WILL RATE Q18B (USED ONLINE WITH ADVERTISING)
OTHERS (Q18C, Q18D AND Q18E WILL BE DISTRIBUTED RANDOMLY)
GIVE PREFERENCE TO DRILL-DOWN STATEMENTS THAT RECEIVE A SCORE IN COLUMN 1
OVER “DON’T KNOW/CAN’T SAY”, SEND TO LOWEST INCIDENCE GROUP
ANCHOR POINT PIPES FOR Q18A-E:
PIPE FOR Q17, Code 1: if the user would make money from the use of your work
PIPE FOR Q17, Code 2: if your work would be used online and advertisements would appear
around or in connection with it
PIPE FOR Q17, Code 3: if your work would be used by an individual
PIPE FOR Q17, Code 4: if your work would be used by an organization
PIPE FOR Q17, Code 5: if your work would be used for a charitable purpose or to promote a
social or public good
BASE: All Respondents
Q18A-E. [IF NUMBER GIVEN IN COL. 1 AT CODE X OF Q17] You indicated that, if your work would be
[PIPE], your score would be [INSERT SCORE FROM CODE X OF Q17] on a 100-point scale where 100
means “Definitely A Commercial Use”, and 1 means “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Below is another group of statements, each of which includes some additional information describing the
proposed use of your work. Please read each statement carefully.
For each statement, in the space provided, please enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where:
100 = "Definitely A Commercial Use"
and
1 = "Definitely A Noncommercial Use"
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
"Don't Know/Can't Say."
Please enter a whole number.
[IF NUMBER NOT GIVEN IN COL. 1 AT CODE X OF Q17 (“DON’T KNOW” IS CHECKED):]
Below is another group of statements, each of which includes some additional information describing the
proposed use of your work. Please read each statement carefully.
For each statement, in the space provided, please enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where:
100 = “Definitely A Commercial Use”
and
1 = “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
“Don’t Know/Can’t Say.”
Enter a whole number.
GRID WITH 2 COLUMNS:
Defining Noncommercial 104
COLUMN ONE (SEE BELOW): OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS
IF RESPONDENT GAVE NUMBER AT CODE 1 AT Q17, INCLUDE NUMBER IN FIELDS AS
DEFAULT, IF RESPONDENT DID NOT GIVE NUMBER, LEAVE FIELDS BLANK TO BEGIN.
WHOLE NUMBERS ONLY BETWEEN 1 AND 100
COLUMN TWO (SEE BELOW): CHECK BOXES
FOR EACH ANSWER CHOICE, RESPONDENTS MUST ENTER WHOLE NUMBER IN
COLUMN ONE OR CHECK BOX IN COLUMN 2
ENTER A WHOLE NUMBER
RANDOMIZE FROM 100 = "DEFINITELY A DON’T KNOW/CAN’T SAY
COMMERCIAL USE" TO 1 =
"DEFINITELY A
NONCOMMERCIAL USE"
INSERT APPROPRIATE SET
OF ANSWER CHOICES (SEE
BELOW)
Q18A – IF CODE 1 AT Q17 (MAKES MONEY FROM WORK), INSERT AT Q18A-E:
1. The user intends to make money from selling a copy of your work
2. The user would make money from selling a copy of your work
3. The user would make money by selling something that includes your work (for example, the user
sells a video that includes one of your songs on the soundtrack)
4. The work would be used in a profit-making venture, and your entire work or “the heart” of your
work would be used
5. The work would be used in a profit-making venture, and only a small part of your work would be
used
6. The work is used in a profit-making venture, and your work would be changed or altered to a
considerable degree
7. A not-for-profit organization would make money from the use of your work, but only enough to
cover the costs of copying and distributing the work (for example, a not-for-profit uses your work
in a manual about emergency medical care, which it sells for just enough to cover the costs of
copying and distributing the manual)
8. A for-profit company would make money from the use of your work, but only enough to cover the
costs of copying and distributing the work (for example, a private school that charges tuition uses
your work in course materials, but only charges students the cost of copying and distributing the
course materials)
9. A not-for-profit organization would make money from the use of your work, enough to cover the
costs of copying and distributing the work, and also some operating costs (for example, a not-
for-profit uses your work in a manual about emergency medical care, which it sells for enough to
cover the costs of copying and distributing the manual, and pay some staff salaries)
10. A not-for-profit organization would make money from the use of your work, enough to contribute to
its endowment fund
11. A for-profit company would make money from the use of your work, and would donate all the
money it makes to a not-for-profit organization
12. The user would not make money directly from the use of your work, but your work would be used to
promote the user or the user’s work (for example, your photograph appears on posters promoting
the user’s concert or the cover of a CD containing the user’s music)
Q18B – IF CODE 2 AT Q17 (ONLINE WITH ADVERTISING), INSERT AT Q18A-E:
Defining Noncommercial 105
1. Your work would be used on a blog or webpage that is supported by advertising, and the user
would not make any money directly from the advertising
2. Your work would be used on a blog or webpage with advertising, and the user would make money
from the advertising – just enough to cover the user’s costs of putting your work online (for
example, the cost of hosting a website)
3. Your work would be used on a blog or webpage with advertising, and the user would makes money
from the advertising – enough to turn a profit
4. Your work would be used on a splog or “zombie” website – websites that exist only to artificially
generate traffic and revenues from pay-per-click advertising
5. Your work would be posted on an aggregator website which hosts millions of works (such as
YouTube or MySpace), and which makes money from the advertising because of the high volume of
traffic it attracts
6. A not-for-profit organization would use your work on its website, and the organization would make
enough money from advertising to cover the costs of hosting the website
7. A not-for-profit organization would use your work on its website, and the organization would make
enough money from advertising on the website to help cover the organization’s operating costs
8. A for-profit company would use your work on its website, and would donate all the money it makes
from advertising on the website to a not-for-profit organization
9. The user would use your work to advertise another product for sale (for example, your photograph
of people playing sports would be used to advertise an energy drink)
Q18C – IF CODE 3 AT Q17 (AN INDIVIDUAL), INSERT AT Q18A-E:
1. The user would be an individual, and the use would be personal or private (for example, your work
would be used at home, or in the company of a few friends)
2. The user would be an individual, and your work would be shared on a website that restricts access
(visitors are required to log-in)
3. The user would be an individual, and your work would be shared on a website with anyone the
user specifically allows (for example, the user’s friends on a social networking site)
4. The user would be an individual, and your work would be shared on a blog or on a website that
anyone can access
5. The user would be an individual who is an amateur known for the kind of product or activity for
which your work is used, but the user does not make a living from that activity (for example, your
photograph would be used to illustrate a personal blog about the user’s hobbies)
6. The user would be an individual who is a professional who makes a living from the product or
activity for which your work is used, but the user does not make money directly from use of your
work (for example, the user is a filmmaker who includes your video in a film distributed for free)
7. The user would be an individual who is a professional who makes a living from the product or
activity for which your work is used (for example, your video is used in a documentary film the user
sells)
8. The user would be someone you view as a competitor
Q18D – IF CODE 4 AT Q17 (AN ORGANIZATION), INSERT AT Q18A-E:
1. The user would be a small for-profit company, that has yet to turn a profit
2. The user would be a large for-profit company
3. The user would be a for-profit company, and your work would be shared with a small group of
employees
4. The user would be a for-profit company, and your work would be shared with the entire company
5. Your work would be used for course materials in a school – a not-for-profit organization that does
not charge tuition
6. Your work would be used for course materials in a school – a not-for-profit organization that
charges tuition
Defining Noncommercial 106
7. Your work would be used by a not-for-profit organization to raise money to sustain its operations
8. Your work would be used by a not-for-profit organization to raise money for its endowment fund
9. Your work would be used by the government or a state-run entity
Q18E – IF CODE 5 AT Q17 (CHARITABLE, SOCIAL GOOD), INSERT AT Q18A-E:
1. Your work would be used by a not-for-profit organization.
2. Your work would be used by a for-profit company for a charitable purpose (for example, to raise
money to donate to a disaster relief fund)
3. Your work would be used by a not-for-profit organization for a charitable purpose that you strongly
support
4. Your work would be used by a for-profit company for a charitable purpose that you strongly support
5. Your work would be used by a not-for-profit organization for a purpose that you find objectionable
6. Your work would be used by a for-profit company for a purpose that you find objectionable
7. Your work would be used by a private for-profit school, for a fundraiser
8. Your work would be used by a public not-for-profit school, for a fundraiser
9. Your work would be used in free educational materials distributed to the public by a for-profit
company, which would receive favorable publicity from this activity
10. Your work would be used in free educational materials distributed to the public by a for-profit
company, which would receive a tax deduction from this activity
11. Your work would be used by the government or a state-run entity
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q12)
Q19. Thank you for completing this exercise. Earlier, you described the difference between a
commercial use and a noncommercial use of your work as:
PIPE ANSWER FROM Q12
Having completed this exercise, would you change your definitions of commercial use and/or
noncommercial use? Or would they stay the same? Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, I would change my definitions
2. No, I would not change my definitions
3. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: Definition changed (Code 1 at 19)
Q20. How would you define the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use now?
Please describe.
OPEN-END TEXT FIELD
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q12) – GEN POP
SURVEY ONLY. HIDE FOR CCFF
Q21. What if “noncommercial use” meant any use that is not primarily intended for, or directed
toward, commercial advantage or private monetary compensation?
Do you think this definition is:
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Essentially the same as your definition of noncommercial use
2. Different from but still compatible with your definition of noncommercial use
Defining Noncommercial 107
3. Different from and incompatible with your definition of noncommercial use
4. Don’t know/Not sure
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING QUESTIONS
BASE: All Respondents
Q22. Are any of the works you created in the last 12 months copyrighted? Select one answer.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, some or all of them are copyrighted
2. No, none of them are copyrighted
3. Not sure
BASE: All Respondents
Q23. Have you ever been involved with licensing copyrighted works? Select the one answer that best
describes your experience.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, I have licensed my own copyrighted work to others
2. Yes, I have licensed copyrighted work from others
3. Yes, I have licensed my own copyrighted work to others, and
I have licensed copyrighted work from others
4. No, I have not been involved with licensing any copyrighted work or content
5. Don’t know/Not sure
6. Other, please specify
BASE: Share works online (Codes 6-9 at Q3 or any selects at Q5)
Q24. Do you ever license the works that you share online? If so, how do you license these works?
Please select all that apply.
If you have never licensed your works, select the final answer choice below.
RANDOMIZE
LAST ANSWER CHOICE SHOULD REMAIN AT THE BOTTOM
1. I have used a free public license available online
2. I have used a standard license that I prefer to use for all my works when possible
3. I have used a license written specifically for use of a specific work, or for a specific use of
that work
4. A lawyer has helped me license a work
5. I have used a license provided by the party to whom I licensed the work
6. I have never licensed a work that I have shared online
BASE: License works (NOT Codes 6 at Q24)
***Q25. Thinking of all the works that you have shared online and licensed as 100%, what percent have
you licensed in each of the following ways?
Enter a percent for each approach listed below. Your answers must total 100%.
Enter a whole number.
TOTAL SUM CALCULATOR
PIPE SELECTS AT Q24:
(FOR CODE 1): Free public license available online
(FOR CODE 2): Standard license that I prefer to use for all my works
(FOR CODE 3): License drafted specifically for that work or use
Defining Noncommercial 108
(FOR CODE 4): Helped by a lawyer
(FOR CODE 5): Licensed provided by the licensee
SHOW IN SAME ORDER AS Q24
DEFAULT = 0%
IF ONLY ONE ANSWER SELECTED AT Q24, AUTO-PUNCH 100%
PROFILING VARIABLES
BASE: All respondents
Q26. Thinking of all the works you create as 100%, approximately what percent
of these works generate revenue – that is, what percent of your works earn you
money?
Enter the percents in the spaces provided. Your answers must total 100%.
Enter a whole number.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
TOTAL SUM CALCULATOR
% SIGNS BESIDE OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS
DEFAULT = 0%
1. Percent of works that generate revenue
2. Percent of works that do not generate any revenue
BASE: At least 1% of works generate revenues (>0% at code 1 at Q26)
Q27. You indicated that some or all of your works generate revenue. How do
you earn money from these works?
Select all that apply.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. I earn money from my works directly (for example, from the sale of products,
downloads, or merchandise, or by displaying or performing my work at
events)
2. I earn money from my works indirectly, from advertising that appears online
around or in connection with my works
3. I earn money from my works indirectly in ways other than online
advertising (for example, through speaking fees)
4. Other, please specify
BASE: At least 1% of works generate revenues (>0% at code 1 at Q26)
Defining Noncommercial 109
Q28. Approximately how much money do you earn from your works on an
annual basis, whether directly, indirectly or a combination of both?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Less than $500 annually
2. $500 - $999
3. $999 - $1,999
4. $2,000 - $4,999
5. $5,000 - $9,999
6. $10,000 - $24,999
7. $25,000 - $49,999
8. $50,000 - $74,999
9. $75,000 - $99,999
10. $100,000 - $199,999
11. $200,000 -$299,999
12. $300,000 - $499,999
13. $500,000 or more annually
14. I prefer not to answer
BASE: All respondents
Q29. If you were to categorize your works, which one of the following categories
would best describe the majority of them?
Select one.
RANDOMIZE
1. Education
2. Science
3. Music
4. Visual art
5. Filmmaking/video
6. Entertainment
7. Literature
8. Journalism
9. Marketing
10. Other, please specify
BASE: All Respondents
Q30. Which of the following best describes your familiarity with and attitude
toward the principles of “open source” – that is, the principles associated with the
open source software movement? Select one.
Defining Noncommercial 110
If you are not at all familiar with open source principles, please select the last
answer choice below.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. I am familiar with and embrace open source principles
2. I am familiar with but do not necessarily embrace open source principles
3. I am familiar with open source principles and do not agree with them
4. I am somewhat familiar with but have no opinion of open source principles
5. I am not at all familiar with open source principles
BASE: All Respondents
Q31. Finally, are you a lawyer or have you had any formal legal training?
Select one.
1. Yes, I am a lawyer or have had some formal legal training
2. No, I am not a lawyer and have had no formal legal training
USE AND PERCEPTION OF CC-NC LICENSES
BASE: Have licensed works using CC licenses (Codes 1 or 3 at Q23)
***Q32. You indicated that you have licensed your own copyrighted work to others. Which, if any, of the
following Creative Commons licenses have you used to license your work?
Select all that apply.
If you cannot recall the license(s) you used, select the last answer choice below.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
LAST TWO ANSWER CHOICES SHOULD BE SINGLE SELECTS
1. Attribution (BY)
2. Attribution Share Alike (BY-SA)
3. Attribution No Derivatives (BY-ND)
4. Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)
5. Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike (BY-NC-SA)
6. Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND)
7. I do not recall which CC licenses I have used
8. None of the above
BASE: Have used CC-NC license (Codes 4-6 at Q32)
***Q33. You indicated that you have used a Creative Commons license that
includes the “Noncommercial” or “NC” term to license your work. Why did you
choose to license your work for noncommercial use?
Select all that apply.
RANDOMIZE
1. Licensing under the NC term is useful for promoting me and my work
Defining Noncommercial 111
2. The NC term allows me to control the right to make money from my works
3. Creative Commons is a respected “brand”
4. I trust that Creative Commons licenses are legally enforceable
5. Association with Creative Commons enhances my image/reputation
6. I don’t want anyone else to want make money or get a commercial
advantage from using my work
7. Other, please specify
BASE: Have used CC-NC license (Codes 4-6 at Q32)
***Q34. Approximately how many works have you licensed using the Creative Commons Noncommercial
or NC license term?
Select one.
1. Less than 10
2. 10 – 49
3. 50 – 99
4. 100 – 499
5. 500 or more
BASE: Have used CC-NC license (Codes 4-6 at Q32)
***Q35. As a licensor, do you have any dissatisfaction with or concerns about the Creative Commons
Noncommercial licenses?
Select all that apply.
If you do not have any dissatisfaction or concerns, select “none of the above” below.
RANDOMIZE
1. The term is not defined clearly
2. The term is not defined in enough detail
3. The term does not capture differences in industries
4. The term does not capture differences in types of works
5. The term does not match my personal definition of “noncommercial use”
6. I am not sure that licensees understand the term the way I do
7. I am concerned that licensees do not respect the term
8. None of the above (do not have any dissatisfaction or concerns)
9. Other, please specify
BASE: Have used CC-NC license (Codes 4-6 at Q32)
***Q36. Have you ever been contacted by someone who wanted to know if a certain use of one of your
CC-NC-licensed works would be acceptable to you?
1. Yes, I have been contacted to see if a use would be acceptable
2. No, I have never been contacted
3. Don’t know/not sure
BASE: All Respondents
*** Q37. Creative Commons licenses define a noncommercial use as any use that is not “primarily
intended for, or directed toward, commercial advantage or private monetary compensation”.
Would you support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the CC-NC term? Select one.
Defining Noncommercial 112
1. Yes, I would support a change
2. No, change is not necessary
3. No, change is not desirable
4. Not sure
BASE: All Respondents
***Q38. We welcome any additional thoughts or comments you might have on the CC-NC term –
including any that relate directly to potential refinements or redefinitions – in the space provided below.
OPEN TEXT FIELD LABELED “Be as specific as possible”
CREATIVE COMMONS COMMUNITY
BASE: All Respondents
***Q39. Which of the following best describes your involvement, if any, in the “Creative Commons
community”?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. I am very involved with Creative Commons and consider myself to be a very active member of
the Creative Commons community
2. I consider myself an active member of the Creative Commons community, but I am not as active
as some others
3. I occasionally participate in discussions, activities or events associated with Creative Commons,
but I do not consider myself a member of the Creative Commons community
4. I have no involvement with the Creative Commons community
5. I do not think there is a “Creative Commons community”
6. Not sure/Don’t know how to answer
BASE: Involved in CC Community (Codes 1-3) at Q39
***Q40. In what year did your involvement with the Creative Commons community begin? Select one.
1. 2001
2. 2002
3. 2003
4. 2004
5. 2005
6. 2006
7. 2007
8. 2008
BASE: All Respondents
CLOSING MESSAGE: That is all the questions we have for you. Thank you for
your time and consideration.
Defining Noncommercial 113
5.5 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Users
The following pages contain the master version of the study questionnaire fielded
in Phase 3 (users) of empirical research.
Defining Noncommercial 114
Defining “Noncommercial” Study Questionnaire for Users
NOTE: This is the master version of the questionnaire prepared for the online
quantitative survey of the general U.S. Internet population and the Creative Commons
“Friends and Family” (“CCFF”) open access poll, both fielded in April 2009.
Questionnaire headings, programming instructions and question numbers were not
visible to respondents. Questions presented to CCFF only are indicated by ***. For ease
of reading, most of the CCFF-only questions are grouped at the end of this document.
As indicated, these questions appeared in slightly different order when the poll was
fielded.
SCREENER QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION: Thank you for taking this survey. We appreciate your time
and consideration.
Please be aware that depending on your response, the survey could take
anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes to complete. Also, please note that once you
click the "continue" button on any page of the survey, you will not be able to
return to previous pages.
Q1. First, please indicate your age:
1. Under 18
2. 18-24
3. 25-29
4. 30-34
5. 35-39
6. 40-44
7. 45-49
8. 50-54
9. 55+
TERMINATE CODE 1 AFTER Q2
Q2. Please indicate your gender:
1. Male
2. Female
TERMINATE IF CODE 1 AT Q1
Q3. In the last 12 months, have you used any online content in any of the following ways?
By “online content” we mean any type of content or creative work that you found online, such as a video,
song, photograph, blog posting, podcast, article or image.
Please think only of online content created by someone else, not any content that you may have created.
Defining Noncommercial 115
Have you: (Select all that apply)
RANDOMIZE
1. Accessed any online content (for example, have you viewed, read or listened to any online
content)
2. Downloaded any online content just for yourself
3. Downloaded and shared any online content with others
4. Remixed or mashed up any online content (that is, made something by combining two or more
works created by someone else, for example, adding an existing song to existing video footage)
5. Made a new work incorporating any online content (for example, adding a song or photograph
made by someone else to a new work that you created)
6. Made a new work by changing or altering any online content (for example, making a new work
by changing the lyrics of a song, or re-editing video footage)
7. Posted or uploaded any online content to a blog, social networking or other type of website
8. None of the above
9. Other, please specify
TERMINATE IF CODE 8 OR ONLY CODE 9
Q4. You indicated that you have accessed, shared or used online content in some way.
Which of the following types of online content have you accessed, shared or used?
Select all that apply.
RANDOMIZE
1. Video or film
2. Songs or instrumental music
3. Photographs
4. Texts or writings (for example, stories, poems, articles)
5. Images (for example, paintings, drawings, flash animations)
6. Podcasts
7. Blogs, online journals or blog postings
8. Online ratings or reviews of others’ works (for example, movie or music reviews)
9. Games
10. Remixes or mash-ups
11. None of the above
12. Other, please specify
TERMINATE IF CODE 11 OR ONLY CODE 12
BASE: All Respondents
SCREEN-OUT MESSAGE: Thank you for participating in our survey today. Unfortunately, your profile
does not correspond to the one we were looking for in this study.
Thanks again!
USERS AS CREATORS
BASE: All respondents
INSTRUCTIONS: Going forward, we will use “content” and “work” or “works” interchangeably.
Unless otherwise indicated, please think only of content created by someone else that you find online,
not content that you create yourself.
Defining Noncommercial 116
BASE: All respondents
Q5. If you were to categorize the works you find online that you access, share or
use, which one of the following categories would best describe the majority of
them?
Select one.
RANDOMIZE
1. Education
2. Science
3. Music
4. Visual art
5. Filmmaking/video
6. Entertainment
7. Literature
8. Journalism
9. Marketing
10. Other, please specify
BASE: All respondents
Q6. [IF NOT CODES 4, 5 OR 6 AT Q3, ASK] In the last 12 months, have you created any of the
following types of content or works using content created by someone else?
Select all that apply.
If you never create content or works using content created by someone else, select “none of the above”
below.
[IF CODES 4, 5 OR 6 AT Q3, ASK] You indicated that you have remixed, incorporated or altered
content created by someone else. When you perform those activities, which of the following types of
works do you ultimately create?
Select all that apply.
If you never create content or works, select “none of the above” below.
RANDOMIZE
1. Videos or films
2. Songs or instrumental music
3. Photographs
4. Texts or writings (for example, stories, poems, articles)
5. Images (for example, paintings, drawings, flash animations)
6. Podcasts
7. Blogs, online journals or blog postings
8. Online ratings or reviews of others’ works (for example, movie or music reviews)
9. Games
10. Remixes or mash-ups
11. Other, please specify
12. None of the above (do not create content or works)
BASE: Remixers, Incorporators, Alterers of Content (Codes 4, 5 or 6 at Q3)
Q7. Which of the following best describes when, if ever, you give attribution or credit to the original
creators of the content you remix, incorporate and/or alter?
Defining Noncommercial 117
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Always give attribution, even when not required or requested
2. Usually give attribution, even when not required or requested
3. Give attribution only when required or requested
4. Rarely give attribution
5. Never give attribution
BASE: Shared or Reused Content (Codes 3-7 at Q3)
Q8. Do you think users should give attribution or credit to the original creator when they share or use
another’s work?
Select one.
1. Yes, attribution should always be given, even when not required or requested
2. Yes, attribution should be given when required or requested
3. No, attribution should never be required
4. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: Creators (not “none of the above” at Q6)
Q9. If you were to categorize the works that you create, which one of the
following categories would best describe the majority of them?
Select one.
RANDOMIZE
1. Education
2. Science
3. Music
4. Visual art
5. Filmmaking/video
6. Entertainment
7. Literature
8. Journalism
9. Marketing
10. Other, please specify
BASE: Creators (not “none of the above” at Q6)
Q10. How, if at all, do you share online the works that you create? Please think
of all the different types of works you create when answering this question.
If you never share online the works you create, select “None of the above.”
Select all that apply.
RANDOMIZE
1. Post to my own blog or website
2. Post to a blog or website run by someone else
Defining Noncommercial 118
3. Post to a website that hosts a variety of user-generated content, such as Flickr or YouTube
4. Post to a social networking website, such as Facebook or MySpace
5. Share via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network
6. Send via email, in the email itself, or as an attachment or in a link
7. Send via an email group or listserv, in the email itself, or as an attachment, or in a link
8. Send via an instant message or "chat" message, in the message itself, or as a link
9. Send via micro-blog, such as Twitter
10. None of the above (do not share works I create online)
11. Other, please specify
BASE: All respondents
Q11. Now, please think of all the works you find online that you access, share
or use, and all of the works that you create (if any, and regardless whether you
share them online). Do you consider yourself:
1. Exclusively a user of works
2. Primarily a user of works
3. Equally a user and creator of works
4. Primarily a creator of works, but also a user
5. Other, please specify
BASE: All respondents
Q12. You indicated that you consider yourself [PIPE RESPONSE IN UC5]. Do
you generally consider yourself an amateur or professional in this role?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Amateur
2. Professional
3. Both or neither, please explain
ERROR MESSAGE: “Please explain your answer.”
BASE: All respondents
Q13. Would you use any of these terms to help describe your involvement with
the content you use and/or create?
Select all that apply.
If none of these terms characterize your involvement, select “none of the above.”
RANDOMIZE
1. Remixer
2. Sampler
Defining Noncommercial 119
3. Mediator
4. Intermediary
5. Curator
6. Repurposer
7. Contributor
8. None of the above
9. Other, please specify
BASE: All respondents
Q14. Do you have any concerns about accessing, sharing or using works created by other people?
Rate each of the following potential concerns on the 7-point scale below where “7” means “Strongly
Agree” and “1” means “Strongly Disagree.”
Select one in each row.
If you “can’t say,” or a reason does not apply to the online content you use, select the last column (“Can’t
Say/Not Applicable”).
RANDOMIZE STRONGLY
DISAGREE CAN’T
STRONGLY SAY/NOT
AGREE APPLICABLE
7 6 4
5 3 2 1
1. Someone may not
want me to download
and keep a copy of
their work
2. Someone may not
want me to further
distribute their work
or share it with
anyone else
3. I may use someone’s
works for a purpose
they would find
objectionable
4. Someone may object
to my making money
from my use of their
work
5. Someone may not
want me to change or
alter their work in any
way
6. Someone may not
want me to include
their work in a
collection or
aggregation of other
content
Defining Noncommercial 120
7. The creator of a work
I use may want some
form of credit or
attribution, and I may
not want to do that, or
may not know how to
do that
COMMERCIAL USE V. NONCOMMERCIAL USE
BASE: All respondents
Q15. Imagine you were interested in using someone else’s work, and the creator of that work would allow
you to do so, but not for commercial use, only for noncommercial use. Would you understand what you
were allowed to do with the work?
We are interested in how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of someone’s
work and a “noncommercial use” of someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
Please do not consult other sources to answer this question! We want to know
what you think the difference is between commercial use and noncommercial
use — in your own words, at this moment.
If you cannot define the difference, check the box labeled “Don’t Know” below.
OPEN END TEXT FIELD LABELLED “Type in your definition”
INCLUDE CHECK BOX: “DON’T KNOW”
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q15)
Q16. Do you think other people understand the difference between commercial use and noncommercial
use in the same way you do?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes
2. Yes, most do
3. Yes, many do
4. Yes, some do
5. No, many do not
6. No, most do not
7. No
8. Not sure
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q15)
Q17. Are you aware of any law that defines a difference between commercial use and noncommercial
use?
Select one.
Defining Noncommercial 121
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes
2. No
3. Not sure
BASE: Aware of law (Code 1 at Q17)
Q18. Please describe, in your own words, the law that defines commercial use and noncommercial use.
OPEN TEXT FIELD LABELLED “Be as specific as possible”
BASE: All CCFF respondents
***Q18A. Please select your legal jurisdiction from the drop-down list of countries below.
DROP-DOWN MENU OF ALL COUNTRIES
GATEKEEPING EXERCISE
BASE: All respondents
Q19. Continue to imagine you were interested in using someone else’s works. Each of the statements
below describes a possible scenario.
For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be
definitely a commercial use or definitely a noncommercial use.
If it would depend or you can’t say, select the third column for that row.
If you don’t know, select the last column for that row.
Please complete the exercise to the best of your ability, based on what you think the difference is
between commercial use and noncommercial use. Again, please do not consult other sources.
Some statements refer to a “not-for-profit organization”. By “not-for-profit organization”, we mean any
organization that exists primarily for some reason other than to make a profit. A religious organization,
school or hospital might be an example of a not-for-profit organization.
Select one in each row.
PIPE RANDOM GROUP OF EIGHT STATEMENTS PER EACH RESPONDENTS FROM THE LIST
BELOW (TOTAL N=~500 FOR EACH RESPONDENT)
RANDOMIZE DEFINITELY A IT WOULD DON’T
NONCOMMERCIAL DEPEND/ KNOW
SHOW TOTAL OF DEFINITELY A USE
EIGHT (8) COMMERCI CAN’T SAY
STATEMENTS AL USE
Defining Noncommercial 122
1. You would make
money from the
sale of a copy of
the work
2. You would make
money from the
use of the work
in some way
3. You would make
money from the
use of the work,
but only enough
to cover costs of
copying and
distributing the
work
4. You would not
make any money
from the use of
the work
5. You would use
the work online
and advertising
would appear
around or in
connection with
it — and you
would make
money from the
ads
6. You would use
the work online
and advertising
would appear
around or in
connection with
it — and you
would make
money from the
ads, but only
enough to cover
the cost of
hosting the
website
7. You would use
the work on a
splog or “zombie
website” that
exists only to
artificially
generate traffic
Defining Noncommercial 123
ANCHOR POINT ALLOCATION EXERCISE
BASE: All respondents
Q20. Now we’d like to ask you to evaluate some similar statements about how you might use a work
created by someone else. This time, we would like you to enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1,
where:
100 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Commercial Use”
and
1 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Please read each statement and then enter a number in the space provided. Assume this is all the
information available. (In the next phase of this exercise, you will be presented with more information.)
Please complete the exercise to the best of your ability, based on what you think the difference is
between commercial use and noncommercial use.
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
“Don’t Know/Can’t Say.”
Enter a whole number.
GRID WITH 2 COLUMNS:
COLUMN ONE (SEE BELOW): OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS. WHOLE NUMBERS ONLY BETWEEN 1
AND 100
COLUMN TWO (SEE BELOW): CHECK BOXES
FOR EACH ANSWER CHOICE, RESPONDENTS MUST ENTER WHOLE NUMBER IN COLUMN ONE
OR CHECK BOX IN COLUMN 2
RANDOMIZE DON’T KNOW/
ENTER A WHOLE NUMBER FROM 100 = CAN’T SAY
“DEFINITELY A COMMERCIAL USE” TO 1 =
“DEFINITELY A NONCOMMERCIAL USE”
1. You would make money
from the use of the work
2. You would use the work
online and advertisements
would appear around or in
connection with it
3. You would use the work as
an individual
4. You would use the work on
behalf of an organization
5. You would use the work for
a charitable purpose or to
promote a social or public
good
Defining Noncommercial 124
EVERY RESPONDENT WILL RATE TWO DRILL-DOWNS:
HALF OF RESPONDENTS WILL RATE Q21A (MAKE MONEY FROM USE OF WORK)
OTHER HALF WILL RATE Q21B (USED ONLINE WITH ADVERTISING)
OTHERS (Q21C, Q21D, AND Q21E WILL BE DISTRIBUTED RANDOMLY)
GIVE PREFERENCE TO DRILL-DOWN STATEMENTS THAT RECEIVE A SCORE IN COLUMN 1
OVER “DON’T KNOW/CAN’T SAY”, SEND TO LOWEST INCIDENCE GROUP
ANCHOR POINT PIPES FOR Q21A-E:
PIPE FOR Q20, Code 1: if you would make money from the use of the work
PIPE FOR Q20, Code 2: if you would use the work online and advertisements would appear around
or in connection with it
PIPE FOR Q20, Code 3: if you, as an individual, would use the work
PIPE FOR Q20, Code 4: if you would use the work on behalf of an organization
PIPE FOR Q20, Code 5: if you would use the work for a charitable purpose or to promote a social or
public good
BASE: All Respondents
Q21A-E. [IF NUMBER GIVEN IN COL. 1 AT CODE X OF Q20] You indicated that, [PIPE], your score
would be [INSERT SCORE FROM CODE X OF Q20] on a 100-point scale where 100 means “Definitely
A Commercial Use”, and 1 means “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Below is another group of statements, each of which includes some additional information describing the
proposed use of the work. Please read each statement carefully.
For each statement, in the space provided, please enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where:
100 = "Definitely A Commercial Use"
and
1 = "Definitely A Noncommercial Use"
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
"Don't Know/Can't Say."
Please enter a whole number.
[IF NUMBER NOT GIVEN IN COL. 1 AT CODE X OF Q20 (“DON’T KNOW” IS CHECKED)] Below is
another group of statements, each of which includes some additional information describing the proposed
use of someone else’s work. Please read each statement carefully.
For each statement, in the space provided, please enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where:
100 = “Definitely A Commercial Use”
and
1 = “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
If you cannot enter a number based on the information provided, check the box in the column labeled
“Don’t Know/Can’t Say.”
Enter a whole number.
GRID WITH 2 COLUMNS:
Defining Noncommercial 125
COLUMN ONE (SEE BELOW): OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS
IF RESPONDENT GAVE NUMBER AT CODE 1 AT Q20, INCLUDE NUMBER IN FIELDS AS
DEFAULT, IF RESPONDENT DID NOT GIVE NUMBER, LEAVE FIELDS BLANK TO BEGIN, WHOLE
NUMBERS ONLY BETWEEN 1 AND 100
COLUMN TWO (SEE BELOW): CHECK BOXES
FOR EACH ANSWER CHOICE, RESPONDENTS MUST ENTER WHOLE NUMBER IN COLUMN ONE
OR CHECK BOX IN COLUMN 2
ENTER A WHOLE NUMBER
FROM 100 = "DEFINITELY A
RANDOMIZE COMMERCIAL USE" TO 1 = DON’T KNOW/CAN’T SAY
"DEFINITELY A
NONCOMMERCIAL USE"
INSERT APPROPRIATE SET
OF ANSWER CHOICES (SEE
BELOW)
Q21A – IF CODE 1 AT Q20 (MAKES MONEY FROM WORK), INSERT AT Q21A-E:
1. You intend to make money from selling a copy of someone else’s work
2. You would make money from selling a copy of someone else’s work
3. You would make money by selling something that includes someone else’s work (for example,
you sell a video that includes music created by someone else)
4. You would use someone else’s work in a profit-making venture, and the entire work or “the
heart” of the work would be used
5. You would use someone else’s work in a profit-making venture, and only a small part of the
work would be used
6. You would use someone else’s work in a profit-making venture, and the work would be
changed or altered to a considerable degree
7. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization that would make
money from the use of the work, but only enough to cover the costs of copying and distributing
the work (for example, you would use someone else’s work in a manual about emergency medical
care, which the not-for-profit organization sells for just enough to cover the costs of copying and
distributing the manual)
8. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company that would make money
from the use of the work, but only enough to cover the costs of copying and distributing the
work (for example, you would use someone else’s work in course materials for a for-profit school that
charges tuition, but the students are charged only the cost of copying and distributing the course
materials)
9. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization that would make
money from the use of the work, enough to cover the costs of copying and distributing the work,
and also some operating costs (for example, you would use someone else’s work in a manual
about emergency medical care, which a not-for-profit organization sells for enough to cover the costs
of copying and distributing the manual, and pay some staff salaries)
10. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization that would make
money from the use of the work, enough to contribute to its endowment fund
11. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company that would make money
from the use of the work, and would donate all the money it makes to a not-for-profit organization
12. You would not make money directly from the use of the work, but you would use the work to
promote you or your own work (for example, you use a photograph on posters to promote your
own concert or on the cover of a CD containing your music)
Defining Noncommercial 126
Q21B – IF CODE 2 AT Q20 (ONLINE WITH ADVERTISING), INSERT AT Q21A-E:
1. You would use someone else’s work on a blog or webpage that is supported by advertising, and
you would not make any money directly from the advertising
2. You would use someone else’s work on a blog or webpage with advertising, and you would
make money from the advertising — just enough to cover your costs of putting the work online
(for example, the cost of hosting a website)
3. You would use someone else’s work on a blog or webpage with advertising, and you would
makes money from the advertising — enough to turn a profit
4. You would use someone else’s work on a splog or “zombie” website — websites that exist only
to artificially generate traffic and revenues from pay-per-click advertising
5. You would post someone else’s work on an aggregator website which hosts millions of works
(such as YouTube or MySpace), and which makes money from the advertising because of the high
volume of traffic it attracts
6. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization for the
organization’s website, and the organization would make enough money from advertising to cover
the costs of hosting the website
7. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization for the
organization’s website, and the organization would make enough money from advertising on the
website to help cover the organization’s operating costs
8. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company for the company’s website
that would donate all the money it makes from advertising on the website to a not-for-profit
organization
9. You would use someone else’s work to advertise another product for sale (for example, you
would use someone else’s photograph of people playing sports would be used to advertise your
energy drink)
Q21C – IF CODE 3 AT Q20 (AN INDIVIDUAL), INSERT AT Q21A-E:
1. You, as an individual, would use someone else’s work for personal or private purposes (for
example, you would use the work at home, or in the company of a few friends)
2. You, as an individual, would share the work on a website that restricts access (visitors are required
to log-in)
3. You, as an individual, would share the work on a website with anyone you specifically allow (for
example, your friends on a social networking site)
4. You, as an individual, would share the work on a blog or on a website that anyone can access
5. You would use someone else’s work as an individual who is an amateur who does not make a
living from the product or activity (for example, you would use someone else’s photograph to
illustrate a personal blog about your hobbies)
6. You would use someone else’s work as an individual who is a professional who makes a living
from the product or activity, but you do not make money directly from use of the work (for
example, you are a filmmaker who includes someone else’s video in a film you distribute for free)
7. You would use someone else’s work as an individual who is a professional who makes a living
from the product or activity for which someone else’s work is used (for example, you use the video in
a documentary film that you sell)
8. You are a competitor to the creator of the work you use
Q21D – IF CODE 4 AT Q20 (AN ORGANIZATION), INSERT AT Q21A-E:
1. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a small for-profit company that has yet to turn a profit
2. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a large for-profit company
3. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company, and the work would be shared with
a small group of employees
Defining Noncommercial 127
4. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company, and the work would be shared with
the entire company
5. You would use the work for course materials in a school — a not-for-profit organization that does
not charge tuition
6. You would use the work for course materials in a school — a not-for-profit organization that
charges tuition
7. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization which uses the work to raise
money to sustain its operations
8. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization to raise money for its
endowment fund
9. You use someone else’s work on behalf of a government or state-run entity
Q21E – IF CODE 5 AT Q20 (CHARITABLE, SOCIAL GOOD), INSERT AT Q21A-E:
1. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization
2. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company for a charitable purpose
(for example, to raise money to donate to a disaster relief fund)
3. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization for a charitable
purpose that you strongly support
4. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company for a charitable purpose
that you strongly support
5. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a not-for-profit organization for a purpose that
the creator would find objectionable
6. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a for-profit company for a purpose that the
creator would find objectionable
7. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a private for-profit school, for a fundraiser
8. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a public not-for-profit school, for a fundraiser
9. You would use someone else’s work in free educational materials distributed to the public by a
for-profit company, which would receive favorable publicity from this activity
10. You would use someone else’s work in free educational materials distributed to the public by a
for-profit company, which would receive a tax deduction from this activity
11. You would use someone else’s work on behalf of a government or a state-run entity
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q15)
Q22. Thank you for completing this exercise. Earlier, you described the difference between a
commercial use and a noncommercial use of someone else’s work as:
PIPE ANSWER FROM Q15
Having completed this exercise, would you change your definitions of commercial use and/or
noncommercial use? Or would they stay the same? Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, I would change my definitions
2. No, I would not change my definitions
3. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: Definition changed (Code 1 at Q22)
Q23. How would you define the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use now?
Please describe.
Defining Noncommercial 128
OPEN-END TEXT FIELD
BASE: Can define difference (Box NOT checked at Q15)
Q24. What if “noncommercial use” meant any use that is not primarily intended for, or directed
toward, commercial advantage or private monetary compensation?
Do you think this definition is:
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Essentially the same as your definition of noncommercial use
2. Different from but still compatible with your definition of noncommercial use
3. Different from and incompatible with your definition of noncommercial use
4. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: Say definition is different and incompatible (Code 3 at Q24)
Q25. You indicated that your definition of noncommercial use is different from and incompatible with
“any use that is not primarily intended for, or directed toward, commercial advantage or private monetary
compensation”.
Why is your definition different from and incompatible with this one? Please explain.
OPEN-END TEXT FIELD
COPYRIGHT and LICENSING QUESTIONS
BASE: All Respondents
Q26. Are any of the works you used in the last 12 months copyrighted? Select one answer.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, some or all of them are copyrighted
2. No, none of them are copyrighted
3. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: All Respondents
Q27. Have you ever been involved with licensing copyrighted works or content?
Select the one answer that best describes your experience.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Yes, I have licensed my own copyrighted work to others
2. Yes, I have licensed copyrighted work from others
3. Yes, I have licensed my own copyrighted work to others, and I have licensed copyrighted work
from others
4. No, I have not been involved with licensing any copyrighted work or content
5. Don’t know/Not sure
6. Other, please specify
BASE: Used works are copyrighted (Code 1 at Q26)
Q28. How have the copyrighted works of others that you have used been licensed? Please select all
that apply.
Defining Noncommercial 129
RANDOMIZE
LAST ANSWER CHOICE SHOULD REMAIN AT THE BOTTOM
1. Works were licensed under a free public license available online
2. Works were licensed with a standard license that the creator prefers to use for all his/her works
3. I have used a license written specifically for use of a specific work, or for a specific use of that
work
4. A lawyer helped me get a license to use works
5. I have provided a license form to the creator whose work I used
6. Works were not licensed
7. I did not seek or acquire a license to use the works
8. Don’t know/Not sure
BASE: License works (NOT Codes 6 or 7 or 8 at Q28)
***Q29. Thinking of all the works that you have shared online and licensed as 100%, what percent have
you licensed in each of the following ways?
Enter a percent for each approach listed below. Your answers must total 100%.
TOTAL SUM CALCULATOR
PIPE SELECTS AT Q28:
(FOR CODE 1): Free public license available online
(FOR CODE 2): Standard license preferred by creator
(FOR CODE 3): License drafted specifically for that work or use
(FOR CODE 4): Helped by a lawyer
(FOR CODE 5): License provided by me (the licensee)
SHOW IN SAME ORDER AS Q28
DEFAULT = 0%
IF ONLY ONE ANSWER SELECTED AT Q28, AUTO-PUNCH 100%
[***Q35-Q45 APPEARED HERE]
PROFILING VARIABLES
BASE: All respondents
Q30. Thinking of all your uses of others’ works as 100%, approximately what
percent of these uses generate revenue — that is, what percent of the uses you
make of others’ works earn you money?
Enter the percents in the spaces provided. Your answers must total 100%.
Enter a whole number.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
TOTAL SUM CALCULATOR
% SIGNS BESIDE OPEN NUMERIC FIELDS
DEFAULT = 0%
1. Percent of works that generate revenue
2. Percent of works that do not generate any revenue
Defining Noncommercial 130
BASE: At least 1% of works generate revenues (>0% at code 1 at Q30)
Q31. You indicated that some or all of the uses you make of others’ works
generate revenue. How do you earn money from these uses of others’ works?
Select all that apply.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. I earn money from the use of others’ works directly (for example, from the sale
of products, downloads, or merchandise, or by displaying or performing those
works work at events)
2. I earn money from the use of others’ works indirectly, from advertising that
appears online around or in connection with those work
3. I earn money from the use of others' works by aggregating those works online
4. Other, please specify
BASE: At least 1% of works generate revenues (>0% at code 1 at Q30)
Q32. Approximately how much money do you earn from the works on an
annual basis, whether directly, indirectly or a combination of both?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. Less than $500 annually
2. $500 - $999
3. $1,000 - $1,999
4. $2,000 - $4,999
5. $5,000 - $9,999
6. $10,000 - $24,999
7. $25,000 - $49,999
8. $50,000 - $74,999
9. $75,000 - $99,999
10. $100,000 - $199,999
11. $200,000 -$299,999
12. $300,000 - $499,999
13. $500,000 or more annually
14. I prefer not to answer
BASE: All Respondents
Q33. Which of the following best describes your familiarity with and attitude
toward the principles of “open source” — that is, the principles associated with
the open source software movement? Select one.
Defining Noncommercial 131
If you are not at all familiar with open source principles, please select the last
answer choice below.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
1. I am familiar with and embrace open source principles
2. I am familiar with but do not necessarily embrace open source principles
3. I am familiar with open source principles and do not agree with them
4. I am somewhat familiar with but have no opinion of open source principles
5. I am not at all familiar with open source principles
BASE: All Respondents
Q34. Finally, are you a lawyer or have you had any formal legal training?
Select one.
1. Yes, I am a lawyer or have had some formal legal training
2. No, I am not a lawyer and have had no formal legal training
USE AND PERCEPTION OF CC-NC LICENSES
***INTRODUCTION [SHOW CCFF SAMPLE ONLY]: Last fall, we conducted a related survey for
Creative Commons that examined perceptions among creators of content. A few of the following
questions are identical to questions asked in that earlier survey. Please answer the questions again,
even if you answered them last time.
BASE: Have licensed works using CC licenses (Codes 1 at Q28)
***Q35. Which, if any, of the following Creative Commons licenses have been associated with the works
you have accessed, shared or used?
Select all that apply.
If you cannot recall the license(s) that were used, select the last answer choice below.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
LAST TWO ANSWER CHOICES SHOULD BE SINGLE SELECTS
1. Attribution (BY)
2. Attribution Share Alike (BY-SA)
3. Attribution No Derivatives (BY-ND)
4. Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)
5. Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike (BY-NC-SA)
6. Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND)
7. None of the above/I do not recall which CC licenses were used
BASE: Have used CC-NC licensed works (Codes 4-6 at Q35)
***Q36. You indicated that you have accessed, shared or used works licensed
with a Creative Commons license that includes the “Noncommercial” or “NC”
term.
Defining Noncommercial 132
Below is a list of statements about Creative Commons, the noncommercial
license or your use of others’ works.
Do you generally agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Select
one in each row.
RANDOMIZE GENERALLY GENERALLY DON’T
AGREE DISAG KNO
REE W/N
OT
SUR
E
Defining Noncommercial 133
1. Creators who license their works
for noncommercial use allow
almost any use that promotes
them or their work
2. Creators who license their works
for noncommercial use don’t want
anyone else to make money from
the works
3. Creative Commons is a
respected “brand”
4. I trust that Creative Commons
licenses are legally enforceable
5. Using works with Creative
Commons licenses enhances my
image/reputation
6. I don’t want to make money or
get a commercial advantage from
using someone else’s work
7. I use Creative Commons licenses
on works I create, so I like to use
others’ CC-licensed works
8. It is safer to use a work with a
CC-NC license than to use an
unlicensed work
9. I wasn’t sure if my use would be
considered a fair use, but
because the work had an NC
license, I didn’t worry about it
10. It doesn’t make any difference if a
work is licensed for
noncommercial use, I feel free to
use any CC-licensed work I want
to for any purpose, including
commercial purposes
BASE: Have used CC-NC licensed works (Codes 4-6 at Q35)
***Q37. Approximately how many works have you used that are licensed using the Creative Commons
Noncommercial or NC license term?
Select one.
Defining Noncommercial 134
1. Less than 10
2. 10 - 49
3. 50 - 99
4. 100 - 499
5. 500 or more
BASE: Have used CC-NC licensed works (Codes 4-6 at Q35)
***Q38. As a licensee, do you have any dissatisfaction with or concerns about the Creative Commons
Noncommercial licenses?
Select all that apply.
If you do not have any dissatisfaction or concerns, select “none of the above” below.
RANDOMIZE
1. The term is not defined clearly
2. The term is not defined in enough detail
3. The term does not capture differences in industries
4. The term does not capture differences in types of works
5. The term does not match my personal definition of “noncommercial use”
6. I am not sure that licensors (creators) understand the term the way I do
7. None of the above (do not have any dissatisfaction or concerns)
8. Other, please specify
BASE: Have used CC-NC license (Codes 4-6 at Q35)
***Q39. Have you ever contacted a creator of a CC-NC-licensed work to find out whether a certain use of
the work would be acceptable?
1. Yes, I have contacted a creator of a CC-NC-licensed work to find out whether a certain use would
be acceptable
2. No, I have never contacted a creator of a CC-NC-licensed work to find out whether a certain use
would be acceptable
3. Don’t know/not sure
BASE: Has contacted creator (Code 1 at P6)
***Q40. You indicated that you have contacted a creator of a CC-NC licensed work to find out whether a
certain use would be acceptable.
What did the use(s) entail and why did you feel it necessary to contact the creator? Please describe.
OPEN-END TEXT FIELD
BASE: All Respondents
*** Q41. Creative Commons licenses define a noncommercial use as any use that is not “primarily
intended for, or directed toward, commercial advantage or private monetary compensation”.
Would you support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the CC-NC term?
Select one.
1. Yes, I would support a change
2. No, change is not necessary
3. No, change is not desirable
4. Not sure
Defining Noncommercial 135
BASE: Would support change in CC-NC term (Code 1 at Q41)
***Q42. You indicated that you would support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the CC-NC term.
Can you suggest specific ways to refine or redefine the term itself? If so, please describe.
If you do not have ideas on how to refine or redefine the term, check the box labeled “Don’t Know.”
OPEN END TEXT FIELD
INCLUDE CHECK BOX “DON’T KNOW”
BASE: All Respondents
***Q43. We welcome any additional thoughts or comments you might have on the CC-NC term —
including any that relate directly to potential refinements or redefinitions — in the space provided below.
OPEN TEXT FIELD LABELED “Please be as specific as possible”.
ADD CHECK BOX: No additional comment
CREATIVE COMMONS COMMUNITY
BASE: All Respondents
***Q44. Which of the following best describes your involvement, if any, in the “Creative Commons
community”?
Select one.
DO NOT RANDOMIZE
7. I am very involved with Creative Commons and consider myself to be a very active member of
the Creative Commons community
8. I consider myself an active member of the Creative Commons community, but I am not as active
as some others
9. I occasionally participate in discussions, activities or events associated with Creative Commons,
but I do not consider myself a member of the Creative Commons community
10. I have no involvement with the Creative Commons community
11. I do not think there is a “Creative Commons community”
12. Not sure/Don’t know how to answer
BASE: Involved in CC Community (Codes 1-3) at CC1
***Q45. In what year did your involvement with the Creative Commons community begin? Select one.
1. 2001
2. 2002
3. 2003
4. 2004
5. 2005
6. 2006
7. 2007
8. 2008
BASE: All Respondents
CLOSING MESSAGE: That is all the questions we have for you. Thank you for your time and
consideration.
Defining Noncommercial 136
5.6 Defining “Noncommercial” Study Data Graphs
The following pages contain data graphs produced for this study that are
reproduced or referenced in the narrative of the Report.
Appendix 5.6
Defining Noncommercial
Data Graphs
September 2009
This Appendix is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Phase 2 – Content Creators
Male 48% Female 52%
Completed Surveys (Male): 511 (51%) Completed Surveys (Female): 489 (49%)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 2
Phase 3 – Content Users
Male 49% Female 51%
Completed Surveys (Male): 533 (53%) Completed Surveys (Female): 472 (47%)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 3
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Photos are the most common type of online content created, accessed, shared
or used
Q: In the last 12 months, which of the following types of online content have you created / accessed, shared
or used?
There are far more users of images,
videos, music and games than there
are creators of these types of content
Base: All Respondents
U.S. Content Creators (n=1000)
U.S. Content Users (n=1006)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 4
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Over 8 in 10 content creators and users are amateurs
Q: Do you generally consider yourself an amateur or professional [creator/user of content]?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Base: All Respondents Base: All Respondents
n=1000 n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 5
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• While creators create many categories of works, users categorize more than half of
the works they use as either “entertainment” or “music”
Q: If you were to categorize your works / the works you find online that you access, share or use, which one of the
following categories would best describe the majority of them?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Base: All Respondents Base: All Respondents
n=1000 n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 6
Sample Characteristics and Profile of U.S. Content Creators
• Over 8 in 10 creators have shared their works online
Non-Web Native Content Types
Q: Have you shared any of the following works online?
Photos are the most common type of
content shared online (notwithstanding
web-native content)
Base: All Respondents
n=1000
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 7
Sample Characteristics and Profile of U.S. Content Creators
• Game-makers and podcasters share online most frequently
Q: Approximately how often do you share each type of work online?
Base: Share works online
n varies (38 to 597)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 8
Content Types and Sharing Works Online
• Email and social networking sites are the most common ways creators share
their works online
Q: When you share your works online, how do you typically do that?
Mean Number of Ways
Creators Share Online: 2.8
Those who share works online in multiple ways tend to be younger
(18-29); make podcasts, mash-ups and ratings/reviews; have copyrighted
materials and to make money from the works they create
Base: Share works online
n=824
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 9
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• 9 in 10 users who create works share the works they create online, most via
email or on social networking sites
Q: How, if at all, do you share online the works that you create?
Base: Creators Base: Creators who share works online
n=440 n=396
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 10
Content Types and Sharing Works Online
• 6 in 10 creators “always” or “usually” control who can access the content they
share online
Q: Which of the following best describes how, if at all, you control who can access your works when you share
them online?
4 in 10 “usually” or “always” share their content with anyone online
Base: Share works online
n=824
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 11
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Photos are the most common type of work accessed, shared or used by
content users
Q: In the last 12 months, which of the following types Q: If you were to categorize the works you find online that
of online content have you accessed, shared or used? you access, share or use, which one of the following
categories would best describe the majority of them?
Most users classify their works as
Entertainment or Music
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 12
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Over 8 in 10 content users access content online, while only 1 in 10 make
new works by incorporating, mixing or changing another work
Q: In the last 12 months, have you used any online content in any of the following ways? Select all that apply.
Average Number of
Ways Users Access,
Share or Use Works
2.8
Those who use content in more ways are
more likely to be 18-29 year-olds, males,
creators of mash-ups, professionals, earn
money from uses of others’ works, are
creators and users equally
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 13
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Photos are the most common type of work created by content users
Q: In the last 12 months, have you created any of the Q: If you were to categorize your works, which one
following types of works or content using content of the following categories would best describe the
created by someone else? majority of them?
Most users classify the works
they create as Entertainment,
Music or Visual Art
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 14
Revenues and Licensing of Works
• Only 1 in 5 creators say they have copyrighted works or have been involved
in licensing copyrighted works
Q: Are any of the works you created in the last 12 Q: Have you ever been involved with licensing copyrighted
months copyrighted? works?
Base: All Respondents
n=1000
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 15
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Nearly 8 in 10 content users say none of the works they use are copyrighted
or are “not sure”
Q: Have you ever been involved with licensing
Q: Are any of the works you used in the last 12 months copyrighted works? Select the one answer that best
copyrighted? describes your experience?
Younger users (18-29), and those who use
podcasts, remixes/mash-ups are more likely to
believe the works they use are copyrighted
Few have ever been
involved in licensing
copyrighted works
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 16
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• 8 in 10 creators and users say they have not been involved with licensing
copyrighted works or content
Q: Have you ever been involved with licensing copyrighted works or content?
Base: All Respondents
U.S. Content Creators (n=1000)
U.S. Content Users (n=1006)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 17
Revenues and Licensing of Works
• Only 17% of creators license the works they share online
Among those who license the works they share online, 4 in 10 have used
free public licenses and/or custom licenses
Q: Do you ever license the works that you share online? If so, how do you license these works?
2 in 10 use a
standard
license, a lawyer
and/or a license
provided by a
licensee
Base: Share works online Base: Licensed a work shared online
n=824 n=140
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 18
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Nearly 7 in 10 content users are aware of how the copyrighted works they
use are licensed
Q: How have the copyrighted works of others that you have used been licensed? Select all that apply
Base: Used copyrighted works and aware of licensing
Base: Used copyrighted works n=162
n=235
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 19
Sample Characteristics and Profile of U.S. Content Creators
• Most creators are not familiar with open source principles
Q: Which of the following best describes your familiarity with and attitude toward the principles of “open source”
– that is, the principles associated with the open source software movement?
Those who embrace open source principles tend to be younger (18-29)
professionals, to share online, and to have copyrighted materials
Those familiar
tend to either
embrace the
principles or have
no opinion
Base: All Respondents
n=1000
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 20
Profile of Content Users
• Most users are not familiar with open source principles
Q: Which of the following best describes your familiarity with and attitude toward the principles of “open source”
– that is, the principles associated with the open source software movement?
Those familiar
tend to either
embrace the
principles or have
no opinion
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 21
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Most of the works (86%) do not earn the users any money
Q: Thinking of all your uses of others’ works as 100%,
Q: You indicated that some or all of the uses you make of
approximately what percent of these uses generate revenue
others' works generate revenue. How do you earn money
– that is, what percent of the uses you make of other’s works
from these uses of others' works?
earn you money?
Base: All Respondents Base: At least 1% of works generate revenue
n=1006 n=284
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 22
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Only 14% of works created or used earn any revenue
Q: What percent of your works earn you money? / What percent of the uses you make of others’ works earn you
money?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Base: All Respondents Base: All Respondents
n=1000 n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 23
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Among those who earn money, creators earn an average of $12.6K annually
from their own works, users an average of $19.6K from others’ works
Q: Approximately how much money do you earn from works on an annual basis, whether directly, indirectly or a
combination of both?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Average Amount Earned Annually Among
those who Earn Money from the Works
they Create/Use
$12.6K $19.6K
Base: At least 1% of works generate revenue, Base: At least 1% of works generate revenue,
excluding those who "prefer not to answer" excluding those who "prefer not to answer"
n=281 n=211
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 24
Sample Characteristics and Profile of U.S. Content Creators
• Creators who earn money from their works typically earn less than $500 a year
Q: Approximately how much money do you earn from your works on an annual basis, whether directly, indirectly
or a combination of both?
A small percentage (13%)
earn $25,000 or more
Higher earners tend to be
younger (18-29) and make
videos, songs/music, mash-
ups and games
Mean Amount Earned by Creators
Annually from their Works:
$12.6K
Base: At least 1% of works generate revenue,
excluding those who "prefer not to answer"
n=281
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 25
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Users who earn money from their works typically earn less than $500 a year
Q: Approximately how much money do you earn from the works on an annual basis, whether directly, indirectly
or a combination of both?
A small percentage (14%)
earn $25,000 or more
Average Amount Earned Annually
Among those who Earn Money from
the Works they Use
$19.6K
Base: At least 1% of works generate revenue,
excluding those who "prefer not to answer"
n=211
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 26
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Most content users are not “exclusively” users of content
Q: Would you use any of these terms to help describe your
Q: Thinking of all the works you find online that you involvement with the content you use and/or create?
access, share or use, and all of the works that you create-- Select all that apply
do you consider yourself:
Some consider
themselves “Samplers” or
“Contributors” of content
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 27
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Over 4 in 10 content users are also creators of content
Those who create content are more likely to be
18-29 year-olds, males, professionals, earn
money from uses of others’ works
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 28
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Creators are most likely to categorize the works they create as “entertainment”
and “visual art”; users are most likely to categorize the works they create as
“entertainment”, “music” or “visual art”
Q: If you were to categorize the works you create, which one of the following categories would best describe the
majority of them?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Base: All Respondents Base: Creators
n=1000 n=440
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 29
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Users are very supportive of giving attribution to the creators of the works they use
Q: Which of the following best describes when, if ever, Q: Do you think users should give attribution or credit to
you give attribution or credit to the original creators of the original creator when they share or use another's
the content you remix, incorporate and/or alter? work?
Base: Remixers, Incorporators, Alterers of content Base: Shared or reused content
n=183 n=670
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 30
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• The vast majority of creators define “commercial use” as a use where money
is made
Verbatim or ‘”open-ended” responses
were coded to quantify how creators
define the difference between commercial
and noncommercial use..
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=741
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 31
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Far fewer creators provide a definition for “noncommercial use;” those who did
usually cite uses by individuals to be noncommercial
It is not clear whether respondents did not provide a
definition of noncommercial use because they could
not define it, whether they felt the definition was
explicit in their definition of commercial use (as
suggested on the previous slide), or for some other
reason.
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=741*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 32
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Half of users provide a definition for commercial use only; 4 in 10 give a definition
for both commercial and noncommercial use
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of someone’s work
and a “noncommercial use” of someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
Only 5% give a definition of
noncommercial use only
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial use
n=741*
*Excludes respondents who gave either invalid responses or
miscellaneous answers
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 33
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Among those users who provide a definition for “commercial use,” over 7 in 10
define it as a use where money is made
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of someone’s work
and a “noncommercial use” of someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
Verbatim or ‘”open-ended” responses
were coded to quantify how users
define the difference between
commercial and noncommercial use.
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial use
n=781*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 34
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Among those who provide a definition for “noncommercial use,” one-third of
content users consider uses by individuals to be noncommercial
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of someone’s work
and a “noncommercial use” of someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
It is not clear whether respondents did not provide a
definition of noncommercial use because they could
not define it, whether they felt the definition was
explicit in their definition of commercial use (as
suggested on the previous slide), or for another
reason.
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial use
n=781*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 35
Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term
• More than 7 in 10 creators and users believe they can define the difference
between commercial and noncommercial use
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of your/someone’s
work and a “noncommercial use” of your/someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Can define difference
between commercial use
and noncommercial use
Cannot define difference
Base: All Respondents Base: All Respondents
n=1000 n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 36
Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term
• Both creators and users define “commercial use” as a use where money is made
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of your / someone’s
work and a “noncommercial use” of your / someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
Responses to this open-ended question were
coded to quantify how respondents define the
difference between commercial use and
noncommercial use; responses given by 3%
or more of responses are indicated.
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
U.S. Content Creators (n=741*)
U.S. Content Users (n=781*)
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 37
Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term
• Those who provide a definition for “noncommercial use” mention uses by
individuals and personal or private uses most often
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of someone’s work
and a “noncommercial use” of someone’s work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
It is not clear whether respondents did not provide a
definition of noncommercial use because they could
not define it, or because they felt the definition was
implicit as the inverse of their definition of commercial
use, or because of some other reason
Users feel more strongly than creators that uses by individuals
and/or those for fun/leisure are noncommercial
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
U.S. Content Creators (n=741*)
U.S. Content Users (n=781*)
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 38
Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term
• More than 7 in 10 creators and users believe other people understand the
difference between commercial use and noncommercial use in the same way
they do
Q: Do you think other people understand the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use in the
same way you do?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Yes
No
Not sure
Base: Can define difference between commercial Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial and noncommercial
n=775 n=807
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 39
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Most creators are unaware whether a law exists that defines the difference
between commercial and noncommercial use
Q: Are you aware of any law that defines a difference Q: Please describe, in your own words, the law that
between commercial use and noncommercial use? defines commercial use and noncommercial use.
Among those who believe a law
exists:
Less than one-third
•“Copyright law” is cited most often
believe there is a law;
37% “are not sure”
•“Fair use” is mentioned by some
•“Universal Commercial Code” is
referenced by a few
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=775
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 40
General Beliefs and Unaided Definitions
• Most users are unaware whether a law exists that defines the difference
between commercial and noncommercial use
Q: Are you aware of any law that defines a difference Q: Please describe, in your own words, the law that
between commercial use and noncommercial use? defines commercial use and noncommercial use.
Among those who believe a law
exists:
•“Copyright law” is cited most often
One-third believe there is •“Fair use” is mentioned second most
a law; 36% “are not sure” often (by far fewer users)
•Other laws, such as “Universal
Commercial Code” or “Patent law”
are mentioned by even fewer users
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial use
n=807
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 41
Profile of U.S. Content Creators and Users
• Less than 1 in 10 content creators or users have any formal legal training
Q: Are you a lawyer or have you had any formal legal training?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Base: All Respondents Base: All Respondents
n=1000 n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 42
Unaided Definitions and Reactions to the CC NC Term
• Creators and users are similarly divided as to awareness of any law that
defines a difference between commercial use and noncommercial use
Q: Are you aware of any law that defines a difference between commercial use and noncommercial use?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Yes
No
Not sure
Base: Can define difference between commercial Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial and noncommercial
n=775 n=807
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 43
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users
(Gatekeeping Exercise)
• Many gatekeeper factors are hard to classify as commercial or noncommercial
Content Creators (n varies: 491 to 515) Definitely a Commercial Use Definitely a Noncommercial Use Can’t Say
Content Users (n varies: 494 to 514) Definitely a Commercial Use Definitely a Noncommercial Use Can’t Say
Difference between creators and users - for specific answer
choice - is statistically significant at a 95% confidence level Base: Randomly selected to rate statements
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 44
Initial Anchor Point Ratings by Creators and Users
• The diagram below illustrates differences in mean scores and confidence
intervals across the 5 anchor points
The user would make money from the use of n=877
your work / You would make money from the n=869
use of the work (M) Ŧ
Your work would be used online and
advertisements would appear around or in n=840
connection with it / You would use the work N=825
online and advertisements would appear
around or in connection with (A) it
Your work would be used by an N=649
organization / You would use the work on
behalf of an organization (O) Ŧ n=720
Your work would be used by an individual / N=620
You would use the work as an individual (I) Ŧ
N=738
Creators Users
Your work would be used for a charitable purpose Mean
or to promote a social or public good / You would N=800
95% confidence interval
use the work for a charitable purpose or to N=771 Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level
promote a social or public good (C) Ŧ
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 45
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related
to Uses by Individual
• Specific uses by individuals are considered less commercial if they are by
amateurs or personal/private
n=287
Professional, makes money from use
n=293
n=237
The user would be a competitor
n=256
Professional, does not make money from use Ŧ n=267
n=272
Shared on a unrestricted access website Ŧ n=245
n=275
Shared on a restricted access website n=238
n=257
Shared on a special access website n=253 Creators Users
n=279 Mean
95% confidence interval
Amateur, does not make money from use Ŧ n=260 Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level
n=281
Private use at home/with friends Ŧ n=267
n=292
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 46
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point I
• Content creators who make money rate uses in which their work is shared
online more commercial
Private/personal uses by individuals are
not perceived as noncommercial by
those who make money compared to
those who do not make money.
Creators of games rate this use more
commercial than creators of other
content types.
a
a
Ac
a
A
40.2
A
Ratings are otherwise similar across other subgroups (data not shown)
Base: Assigned to question and responding
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95%
n=338
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80%
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 47
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point I
• Content creators who make money from their works rate uses by individuals
who are professionals less commercial
bC However they rate more commercial uses in
which their works are shared online
c
AC
C c
C
A
A
40.2
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95%
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% Base: Assigned to question and responding
n=338
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 48
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point I
• Content users who earn money from the use of others’ works rate uses by
individuals who are professionals less commercial
However they are in general agreement with users who do not earn
money for uses by competitors, by professionals who do not earn
money directly and uses on websites that restrict access
23.8
In addition to those who do not earn money, older users consider
uses by individuals to be more commercial
: Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
: Statistically significant at 80% n=331
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 49
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point I
• There are several scenarios involving individuals that content users who
earn money rate more commercial
Private/personal uses by individuals are rated more commercial by those who earn
money along with uses by amateurs who do not earn a living from the activity
23.8
: Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
: Statistically significant at 80% n=331
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 50
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related
to Uses Involving Money
• Specific uses that earn the user money are rated less commercial if revenues
support cost recovery or nonprofit organizations
Copy sold for profit Creators Users
n=431
n=435
Mean
Intent to make money from copy 95% confidence interval
n=434
n=437
Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level
Something including the work sold for profit n=433
n=435
Entire work/heart of work used for profit n=435
n=436
Considerably changed/altered version sold for profit n=421
n=419
Small part of work used for profit n=432
n=427
Entire work used for self-promotion n=429
n=427
For-profit company sells to cover distribution costs Ŧ n=422
n=421
For-profit company donates all money to not-for-profit Ŧ n=419
n=422
Not-for-profit sells for endowment fund Ŧ n=422
n=418
Not-for-profit sells to cover distribution & operating costs Ŧ n=420
n=420
Not-for-profit sells to cover distribution costs Ŧ n=416
n=414
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 51
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point M
• Content creators who make more money from their works rate uses less
commercial
B
89.4
bC
c C
c c
c c
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% n=491
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 52
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point M
• Uses are generally perceived less commercial by those content users who
earn money from the use of others’ works
91.7
In addition to those who do not earn money, those who use videos consider
uses that involve earning money to be more commercial
Base: Assigned to question and responding
All points are statistically significant at 95%
n=495
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 53
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related
to Uses Involving Advertisements
• Specific uses involving online advertising are also rated less commercial if
revenues support cost recovery or nonprofit organizations
Creators Users n=449
Work would advertise product for sale Mean n=451
95% confidence interval
n=436
Work on splog/"zombie" website Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level n=440
n=444
Work on webpage supported by ads, user profits from ads n=453
n=428
Work on aggregator website n=438
Work on webpage, ad profits cover hosting costs Ŧ n=433
n=445
For-profit company use on its website, donates ad profits to not-for-profit Ŧ n=438
n=431
Not-for-profit use on its website, ad profits cover operating costs Ŧ n=445
n=432
Not-for-profit use on its website, ad profits cover hosting costs Ŧ n=438
n=439
Work on webpage supported by ads, no profit Ŧ n=421
n=431
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 54
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• Uses involving advertising are generally rated less commercial by creators
who make more money from their works
bC
BC bC
C
c
C
C 84.6
c bc
Uses related to online advertising are rated more commercial by creators who are older and have no legal experience. Creators of games
generally rate scenarios less commercial; ratings are otherwise similar across other subgroups (data not shown)
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% n=509
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 55
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• Content creators who make more money from their works rate uses less
commercial
84.6
C C
C C C
c
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% n=509
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 56
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• Uses involving advertising are generally rated less commercial by users who
earn money from the use of others’ works
82.6
In addition to those who do not earn money, older users and those who use videos
consider uses that involve online advertising to be more commercial
Base: Assigned to question and responding
All points are statistically significant at 95%
n=511
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 57
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• Content users who earn money from the use of others’ works rate uses
less commercial
82.6
Base: Assigned to question and responding
All points are statistically significant at 95%
n=511
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 58
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related
to Uses by Organization
• Specific uses by organizations are commercial if the organization is a for-profit
company
Creators Users n=270
On behalf of a large for-profit company Mean n=301
95% confidence interval
n=269
Shared with entire for-profit cmpany Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level n=295
n=268
On behalf of a small for-profit company, not yet profitable n=294
n=267
Shared with small group of for-profit company employees n=294
Government/state-run entity Ŧ n=246
n=272
Not-for-profit uses to sustain operations Ŧ n=264
n=283
Not-for-profit uses for endowment fund Ŧ n=267
n=281
Use for course materials by tuition-based school n=261
n=280
Use for course materials by non-tuition school Ŧ n=263
n=280
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 59
Results of Anchor Point Exercise (Phase 2) Anchor Point O
• Key for specific scenarios for Anchor Point O: “Your work would be used by
an organization”
• O.1: User is a small for-profit company, that has yet to • O.6: Work is used for course materials in a school that
turn a profit charges tuition
• O.2: User is a large for-profit company • O.7: Work is used by a not-for-profit organization to raise
money to sustain its operations
• O.3: User is a for-profit company, and work is shared
with a small group of employees • O.8: Work is used by a not-for-profit organization to raise
money for its endowment fund
• O.4: User is a for-profit company, and work is shared
with entire company • O.9: Work is used by the government or a state-run
entity
• O.5: Work is used for course materials in a school that
does not charge tuition
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 60
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users: Scenarios Related
to Uses with Charitable Purposes
• Some uses for charitable purposes are rated less commercial but consensus
is lower
On-behalf of for-profit company, creator finds use objectionable n=274
n=291
Private for-profit school use for fund-raising Ŧ
n=299
n=288
Government/state-run entity n=281
n=270
For-profit company, distributes free educational materials, n=301
n=288
receives tax deduction Ŧ
n=288
On behalf of a for-profit, company, creator supports use Ŧ n=289
For-profit company, distributes free educational materials, n=299
n=288
receives publicity Ŧ
n=294
On behalf of for-profit company for charitable purpose Ŧ n=284
On-behalf of not-for-profit company, creator finds use n=254 Creators Users
n=271
objectionable Ŧ Mean
n=296 95% confidence interval
Public, not-for-profit school use for fund-raising Ŧ n=284
Ŧ Statistically significant at the 0.05 level
Use on behalf of a not-for-profit, creator supports use Ŧ n=287
n=284
On behalf of a not-for-profit Ŧ n=276
n=283
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 61
Ratings of Commercial Use by Creators and Users (Anchor Point
Exercise)
• Users generally agree with creators that most uses studied are commercial, except
personal or private uses by individuals and use by not-for-profit orgs
Creators Users Specific Use Scenarios
Mean
95% confidence interval
The user/you would make money from the
use of the work
The work would be used online and
advertisements would appear around it
The work would be used on behalf of
an organization
The work would be used for a charitable
purpose/social good
Your work would be used by/you
would use the work as an individual
1 50 100
Definitely a Definitely a
Noncommercial Use Commercial Use
Base: Assigned to question and responding
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 62
Changes to Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• After rating specific use scenarios, most content creators (73%) still would
not change their definitions of commercial and noncommercial use
Q: Would you change your definitions of commercial use and/or noncommercial use? Or would they stay the same?
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=775
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 63
Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• After rating specific use scenarios, most content users (75%) still would not
change their definitions of commercial and noncommercial use
Q: Would you change your definitions of commercial use and/or noncommercial use? Or would they stay the same?
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=807
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 64
Changes to Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• Content creators who would change their definition are more likely to say that
uses by an individual are commercial
Other differences are not statistically
significant (.05)
Base: Definition has changed
n=97
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 65
Changes to Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• Content creators who would change their definition are also more likely to say
that uses by an organization are noncommercial
Other differences are not statistically
significant (.05)
Base: Definition has changed
n=97
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 66
Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• Content users who would change their definition are more likely to say that
uses by an organization or individual are commercial
Q: How would you define the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use now? Please describe?
Base: Definition has changed
n=72*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 67
Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• Content users who would change their definition are also more likely to say
that uses for a charitable purpose or social good are noncommercial
Q: How would you define the difference between commercial use and noncommercial use now? Please describe?
Base: Definition has changed
n=72*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 68
Changes to Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• When presented with the CC NC term, the vast majority of content creators
say it is “essentially the same” or “compatible” with their definition
Q: What if “noncommercial use” meant any use that is not primarily intended for, or directed toward, commercial
advantage or private monetary compensation?
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=775
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 69
Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• When presented with the CC NC term, the vast majority of content users say
it is “essentially the same” or “compatible” with their definition
Q: You indicated that your definition of
Q: What if “noncommercial use” meant any use that is not noncommercial use is different from and
primarily intended for, or directed toward, commercial incompatible . Why? Please explain.
advantage or private monetary compensation?
Among those who believe their
definition is incompatible:
•The overwhelming majority
define commercial use as any
monetary exchange, and thus
object to use of the word
“primarily”
•The term “intended” is criticized
as “too vague”
Base: Say definition is different and incompatible
Base: Can define difference between commercial n=57*
and noncommercial *Respondents were re-contacted to collect data for the two questions
n=532* represented on this slide. 801 were re-contacted, 66% responded
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 70
Changes in Definitions and Reactions to CC NC Term
• When presented with the language of the CC NC term, both creators and
users say it is “essentially the same as or “compatible with” their definition
Q: What if “noncommercial use” meant any use that is not primarily intended for, or directed toward, commercial
advantage or private monetary compensation?
U.S. Content U.S. Content
Creators Users
Essentially the same as your
definition of noncommercial use
Different from but still compatible
with your definition of
noncommercial use
Different from and incompatible
with your definition of
noncommercial use
Don’t know/Not sure
Base: Can define difference between commercial Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial and noncommercial
n=775 n=532*
*Content Users were re-contacted to collect data for his slide. 801 were re-contacted, 66% responded
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 71
CCFF-Only Questions
• Almost half of the CCFF Phase 2 (creator) sample are from the United States
Q: Please select your legal jurisdiction.
Base: All Respondents
n=3337
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 72
CCFF-Only Questions
• Almost half of the CCFF Phase 3 (user) sample are from the United States
Q: Please select your legal jurisdiction.
Base: All Respondents
n=437
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 73
Revenues and Licensing of Works
• CCFF content creators are much more likely to license the works they share
online, and to use online, free public licenses
Q: Do you ever license the works that you share online? If so, how do you license these works?
Base: Licensed a work shared online
Base: Share works online U.S. Content Creators (n=140)
U.S. Content Creators: n=824 CCFF (n=2388)
CCFF: n =3230
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 74
Profile of Content Creators
• Like U.S. content creators, CCFF content creators are predominantly
amateurs and unlikely to have any formal legal training
Q: Do you generally consider yourself an amateur or Q: Are you a lawyer or have you had any formal legal
professional creator? training??
23% say they are either both amateur and
professional, or neither
Base: All Respondents
U.S. Content Creators (n=1000)
CCFF (n=3337)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 75
Sample Characteristics and Profile of Users
• Nearly 7 in 10 content users are aware of how the copyrighted works they
use are licensed
Q: How have the copyrighted works of others that you have used been licensed? Select all that apply
Base: Used copyrighted works and aware of licensing
Base: Used copyrighted works n=162
n=235
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 76
CCFF-Only Questions
• 9 in 10 CCFF content users are aware of how the copyrighted works they use
are licensed
Q: How have the copyrighted works of others that you have used been licensed? Select all that apply
Most are licensed under a standard
license used by a creator
Base: Used copyrighted works and aware of licensing
Base: Used copyrighted works n=335
n=360
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 77
Content Types and Sharing Works Online
• CCFF creators are far more likely to “always” or “usually” share their works
with anyone online
Q: Which of the following best describes how, if at all, you control who can access your works when you share them
online?
Base: Share works online
U.S. Content Creators: n=824
CCFF: n =3230
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 78
Profile of Content Creators
• CCFF creators are far more likely to be familiar with and embrace open source
principles
Q: Which of the following best describes your familiarity with and attitude toward the principles of “open source”
– that is, the principles associated with the open source software movement?
Base: All Respondents
U.S. Content Creators (n=1000)
CCFF (n=3337)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 79
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Virtually all CCFF creators can define a difference between commercial and
noncommercial use
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of your work and a
“noncommercial use” of your work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
CCFF
U.S. Content Users
U.S. Content Creators
Base: All Respondents
n=1000
CCFF
Base: Randomly Selected Sample
N=534
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 80
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Virtually all CCFF content users provided a definition for the difference
between commercial and noncommercial use
Q: We would like to know how you would define the difference between a “commercial use” of your work and a
“noncommercial use” of your work. Please type your definition in the space provided.
CCFF
U.S. Content Users
U.S. Content Users
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
CCFF
n=437
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 81
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Like content creators, CCFF content creators define “commercial use” as a
use where money is made
U.S. Content Creators
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=741*
CCFF
Base: Randomly selected sample who can define
difference between commercial and noncommercial
N=508*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 82
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Like U.S. content users, CCFF content users define “commercial use” as a use
where money is made
U.S. Content Users
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
n=781*
CCFF
Base: Can define difference between commercial
and noncommercial
N=411*
*Excludes respondents who gave invalid responses
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 83
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• CCFF content creators are more likely to rate splogs “commercial,” online
advertising and cost recovery “noncommercial”
Q: For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be definitely a commercial use or
definitely a noncommercial use.
Percent Saying Use is “Definitely Commercial”
Base: Randomly selected to rate statements
n varies (491 to 515)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 84
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• CCFF content users consider many uses less commercial than U.S. content
users, particularly uses that involve online ads and cost recovery
Q: For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be definitely a commercial use or
definitely a noncommercial use.
Percent Saying Use is “Definitely Commercial”
CCFF view uses on
“zombie websites” as
more commercial
Base: Selected to rate statements
n varies (207 to 514)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 85
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Ratings of CCFF content creators and U.S. content creators are similar for
all scenarios in which the user would make money
Means on 100-Point Scale
However CCFF tend to rate less
commercial uses where money is earned
for cost recovery or a nonprofit
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Creators (n=491)
CCFF (n=1678)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 86
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Ratings of CCFF content users and U.S. content users are similar for all
scenarios in which the user would make money
Means on 100-Point Scale
However CCFF tend to rate less
commercial uses where money is earned
for cost recovery or a nonprofit
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Creators (n=495)
CCFF (n=226)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 87
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Uses involving online advertising are rated less commercial by CCFF creators,
particularly if funds support cost recovery or a nonprofit
Means on 100-Point Scale
Splogs, however, are rated more
commercial by CCFF
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Creators (n=509)
CCFF (n=1660)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 88
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Uses involving online advertising are rated less commercial by CCFF content
users, particularly if funds support cost recovery or a nonprofit
Means on 100-Point Scale
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Users (n=511)
CCFF (n=211)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 89
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Uses by organizations are rated less commercial by CCFF content creators
if money is earned for cost recovery or a nonprofit
Means on 100-Point Scale
CCFF and U.S. Content Creators rate
equally commercial uses by for-profit
companies
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Creators (n=326)
CCFF (n=1120)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 90
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• Uses by organizations are rated less commercial by CCFF content users if
money is earned for an educational, nonprofit or governmental organization
Means on 100-Point Scale
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Users (n=336)
CCFF (n=144)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 91
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• CCFF content creators rate uses by individuals less commercial – unless
the user is a professional who earns money
Means on 100-Point Scale
CCFF rates less commercial the
public sharing of works online
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Creators (n=338)
CCFF (n=1109)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 92
Comparison of Definitions to CCFF
• CCFF content users rate uses by individuals less commercial – unless the
user is a professional who earns money
Means on 100-Point Scale
Base: Assigned to question and responding
U.S. Content Users (n=331)
CCFF (n=149)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 93
CCFF-Only Questions (Phase 2 Creators)
• BY-NC-SA is the most popular of the CC NC licenses
Q: Which, if any, of the following Creative Commons licenses have you used to license your work?
Base: Have licensed works using CC licenses
n=1484
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 94
CCFF-Only Questions (Phase 3 Users)
• BY-NC-SA is the most common of the CC NC licenses
Q: Which, if any, of the following Creative Commons licenses have been associated with the works you have
accessed, shared or used?
Base: Have used CC licensed works
n=267
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 95
CCFF-Only Questions (Phase 2 Creators)
• Many CC NC license users believe the licenses are legally enforceable and
help them control who makes money from their works
Q: Why did you choose to license your work for noncommercial use?
Base: Have used CC NC license
n=934
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 96
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF content users who use CC NC licensed works seem to respect
creators’ rights and believe the licenses are legally enforceable
Q: You indicated that you have accessed, shared or used works licensed with a Creative Commons license that includes the
“noncommercial” or “NC” term. Below is a list of statements about Creative Commons, the noncommercial license or your use of others’
works. Do you generally agree or disagree with each of the following statements?
Base: Have used CC NC licensed works
N=193
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 97
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF content creators are primarily concerned that licensees do not share a
similar understanding of, or do not respect, the NC term
Q: As a licensor, do you have any dissatisfaction with or concerns about the Creative Commons Noncommercial licenses?
24% have no concerns with
the CC NC licenses
Base: Have used CC NC license
n=934
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 98
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF content users are primarily concerned that licensors do not share a similar
understanding of the term, or that the term is not defined clearly or in enough detail
Q: As a licensee, do you have any dissatisfaction with or concerns about the Creative Commons Noncommercial licenses?
27% have no concerns with
the CC NC licenses
Base: Have used CC NC license
n=193
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 99
CCFF-Only Questions
• Exactly half of CCFF creators say they have been contacted by a licensee to
see if a use would be acceptable
Q: Have you ever been contacted by someone who wanted to know if a certain use of one of your CC-NC-licensed works
would be acceptable to you?
Base: Have used CC NC license
n=934
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 100
CCFF-Only Questions
• 1 in 4 CCFF who use CC NC-licensed works have contacted a creator
(licensor) to see if a use would be acceptable
Q: Have you ever contacted a creator of a CC-NC-licensed work to find out whether a certain use of the work would be
acceptable?
Base: Have used CC NC licensed works
n=190
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 101
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF content creators are divided on whether they would support an effort to
potentially refine or redefine the CC NC term
Q: Would you support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the CC-NC term?
It is not clear whether
respondents understood
distinction between
“necessary” and “desirable”
Base: All Respondents
n=3337
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 102
CCFF-Only Questions
• Almost half would support an effort to potentially change to refine or redefine
the CC NC term, while more than one-third indicated change was not
necessary or desirable
Q: Would you support an effort to potentially refine or redefine the CC-NC term?
It is not clear whether respondents drew a
distinction between “necessary” and “desirable”
Base: All Respondents
n=437
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 103
CCFF-Only Questions
• 79% of respondents from the CCFF content creators survey say they are not
members of the Creative Commons community
Q: Which of the following best describes your involvement, if any, in the “Creative Commons community”?
Just 13% of the sample
consider themselves “active
members”
Base: All Respondents
n=3337
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 104
CCFF-Only Questions
• 70% of respondents from the CCFF content users survey do not identify
themselves as members of the Creative Commons community
Q: Which of the following best describes your involvement, if any, in the “Creative Commons community”?
Just 20% of the sample consider
themselves “active members”
Base: All Respondents
n=437
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 105
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF creator sample includes those very new to the organization and many
“old-timers”
Q: In what year did your involvement with the Creative Commons community begin?
Base: Involved in CC community
n=1560
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 106
CCFF-Only Questions
• CCFF user sample includes those very new to the organization and many
“old-timers”
Q: In what year did your involvement with the Creative Commons community begin?
Base: Involved in CC community
n=251
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 107
Results of Gatekeeping Exercise
• Creators rate uses “definitely commercial” if money is made from the sale or
copy of a work or from online advertising
Q: For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be definitely
a commercial use or definitely a noncommercial use.
Money made from advertising shown in
connection with a work is considered as
commercial as money made directly from
a sale or copy of a work
Base: Randomly selected to rate statements
n varies (491 to 515)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 108
Results of Anchor Point Exercise
• Uses that would make money for the user or where the work is used in
connection with online advertising are rated highly commercial by creators
Q: Enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A
Commercial Use” and 1 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Means on 100-Point Scale
The first two anchor points are
rated slightly less commercial
by those who create games and
podcasts, those who are
professionals, and those who
earn revenues from their works
(data not shown)
Uses by an individual, or for a
charitable purpose are rated
more noncommercial than
other anchor points
Base: All Respondents
n=1000
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 109
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• For uses involving advertising, there is greater consensus among creators
around those rated more commercial, less consensus around those rated
less commercial
Higher standard deviation indicates lower
consensus among respondents
Lower standard deviation
indicates higher consensus
Key provided on following slide
Base: Assigned to question and responding
n=509
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 110
Results of Anchor Point Exercise (Phase 2) Anchor Point A
• Key for specific scenarios for Anchor Point A: “Your work would be used
online and advertisements would appear around or in connection with it”
• A.1: Work is used on a blog/webpage supported by ads, • A.6: Not-for-profit organization uses work on its site,
user would not make any money organization makes enough money from ads to cover
hosting costs
• A.2: Work is used on blog/webpage with ads, user would
make money from ad to cover hosting costs • A.7: Not-for-profit organization uses work on its site,
organization makes enough money from ads to cover
• A.3: Work is used on blog/webpage with ads, user profit operating costs
from ads
• A.8: For-profit company uses work on its site, donates
• A.4: Work is used on a splog or “zombie” website money it makes from ads to not-for-profit organization
• A.5: Work is posted on aggregator website (e.g., • A.9: User would use your work to advertise another
YouTube, MySpace) product for sale
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 111
Results of Gatekeeping Exercise
• Users rate uses “definitely commercial” if money is made from the sale or
copy of a work or from online advertising
Q: For each statement, please indicate whether you think the statement means the proposed use would be definitely
a commercial use or definitely a noncommercial use.
Base: Randomly selected to rate statements
n varies (494 to 514)
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 112
Results of Anchor Point Exercise
• Uses that make money for the user or where the work is used in connection with
online advertising are considered commercial by content users
Q: Enter a number on a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A
Commercial Use” and 1 means you think the proposed use would be “Definitely A Noncommercial Use”.
Means on 100-Point Scale
Uses by an individual are rated
more noncommercial than
other anchor points
Base: All Respondents
n=1006
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 113
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point A
• There is greater consensus among content users around studied uses rated
more commercial, less consensus around those rated less commercial
Higher standard deviation indicates lower
consensus among respondents
Lower standard deviation
indicates higher consensus
Key provided on following slide
Base: Assigned to question and responding
n=511
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 114
Results of Anchor Point Exercise (Phase 3) Anchor Point A
• Key for specific scenarios for Anchor Point A: “You would use the work online
and advertisements would appear around or in connection with it”
• A.1: Work is used on a blog/webpage supported by ads, • A.6: Not-for-profit organization uses work on its site,
you would not make any money organization makes enough money from ads to cover
hosting costs
• A.2: Work is used on blog/webpage with ads, you would
make money from ad to cover hosting costs • A.7: Not-for-profit organization uses work on its site,
organization makes enough money from ads to cover
• A.3: Work is used on blog/webpage with ads, you profit operating costs
from ads
• A.8: For-profit company uses work on its site, donates
• A.4: Work is used on a splog or “zombie” website money it makes from ads to not-for-profit organization
• A.5: Work is posted on aggregator website (e.g., • A.9: You would use the work to advertise another
YouTube, MySpace) product for sale
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 115
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point O
• For uses involving organizations, content creators who do not earn money rate
some uses by for-profit companies higher than those who do earn money
b Continued…
b
61.3
Those with legal experience generally rate uses less commercial than those with no legal
experience; creators of photos rate many of these scenarios more commercial, while
creators of images and videos rate them less commercial (data not shown)
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95% Base: Assigned to question and responding
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% n=326
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 116
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point O
• There is some indication that uses by not-for-profit organizations are viewed
as less commercial among content creators who make more money from
their works (differences are not statistically significant)
61.3
Ratings are otherwise similar across other subgroups (data not shown)
Base: Assigned to question and responding
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95%
n=326
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80%
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 117
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point C
• Content creators who do not make money rate uses by for-profit companies
they find objectionable more commercial
Continued…
bC
c
34.1
Uses for charitable purposes are generally rated more commercial by older creators;
ratings are otherwise similar across other subgroups (data not shown)
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95%
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% Base: Assigned to question and responding
n=336
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 118
Results of Anchor Point Exercise Anchor Point C
• Content creators who do not make money also rate uses by nonprofit
companies they find objectionable more commercial
b
34.1
A, B, or C (uppercase): Statistically significant at 95%
a, b, or c (lowercase): Statistically significant at 80% Base: Assigned to question and responding
n=336
Defining Noncommerical Appendix 5.6 – 119